After the excitement of the Lausanne 2020 Opening Ceremony last night, today saw the start of the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) with 15 Team GB athletes competing across three sports – alpine skiing, curling and ice hockey.
The Super G competition was up first for alpine skiers Daisi Daniels and Sophie Foster, who finished 18th and 33rd respectively, with Daniels finishing +1.55 seconds behind the eventual winner – home favourite Amelie Klopfenstein of Switzerland.
Daniels, who has already represented Team GB before at the Sarajevo 2019 European Youth Olympic Games (EYOF), said: “It was really sweet. Out of the start the nerves were obviously there but I knew I just had to be confident and send myself down there as fast as I could. At the start I was a bit off [with] my balance and needed to tighten up and I know that going into GS I can be more clean.”
Meanwhile, the men’s Super G competition also started at the Les Diablerets ski resort, with British pair Jack Cunningham and Robert Holmes taking to the slopes. Teenager Cunningham crossed the line in a time of 56:36, leaving him in 26th position in the field, while teammate Holmes recorded a DNF.
All four skiers will be back in action tomorrow, as they tackle the slalom discipline in the alpine combined event.
Ross Craik, Hannah Farries, Robyn Mitchell and Jamie Rankin, got off to a winning start in the mixed team curling event, seeing off France 9-5 in the round robin.
The first few ends were extremely tight until Mitchell, who carried the Union Flag into last night’s Opening Ceremony, virtually sealed the win in the sixth end, scoring four to put Great Britain 8-2 up. Skip Craik then confirmed the victory in the final end, to put the quartet top of the Round Robin after one match. They meet Norway in their second match tomorrow.
The NOC mixed ice hockey event also got underway today with each of the seven Team GB athletes divided in 16 teams (men’s and women’s) made up of 11 players in a squad but the format being 3-on-3.
The event, which is making its debut at YOG, see’s eight men’s teams and eight women’s made up of different nationalities, with team names determined by the colours black, blue, brown, green, grey, orange, red and yellow. Each team will compete against each other once, forming the preliminary round, with the top four teams progressing through to the semi-finals, then the winning teams competing in the gold medal match.
In the men’s competition, only Evan Nauth (brown) was victorious, as his mixed team defeated the black team 13-11 at the Vaudoise Arena. Carter Hamill (blue) and Mack Stewart (red) were both on the wrong side of narrow losses, losing to the grey and orange team’s 8-9 and 6-8 respectively.
Meanwhile, Mirren Foy, Amy Robery, Abby Rowbotham and Jessie Taylor all started their Youth Olympic Games in the women’s competition with Foy (blue) and Robery (black) both coming out on top in their respective matches. It was opening round disappointment for Rowbotham and Taylor, but all seven Team GB athletes return to the rink tomorrow where they’ll contest two matches each on day two.
Results:
Alpine Skiing – Women’s Super G:
- Daisi Daniels – 18th
- Sophie Foster – 33rd
Alpine Skiing – Men’s Super G:
- Jack Cunningham – 26th
- Robert Holmes – DNF
Curling – Mixed Team:
- Great Britain 9-5 France
Ice Hockey – Women’s Mixed NOC 3-on-3:
- Mirren Foy (blue) – won 9-7 versus (grey)
- Amy Robery (black) – won 7-6 versus (brown)
- Abby Rowbotham (red) – lost 4-6 versus (orange)
- Jessie Taylor (green) – lost 4-12 versus (yellow)
Ice Hockey – Men’s Mixed NOC 3-on-3:
- Evan Nauth (brown) – won 13-11 versus (black)
- Carter Hamill (blue) – lost 8-9 versus (grey)
- Mack Stewart (red) – lost 6-8 versus (orange)