Melissa Hoar has made a remarkable debut at the World Skeleton championships, finishing in 13th place in a field of 23 sliders after just four months in the sport.
Melissa Hoar has made a remarkable debut at the World Skeleton championships, finishing in 13th place in a field of 23 sliders after just four months in the sport.
Hoar, who had her first trip down a skeleton track only last November as part of an Australian Institute of Sport talent identification program, posted a combined time of three minutes 56.62 seconds, 4.20 seconds behind the winning time of Maya Pedersen from Switzerland.
The 21-year-old Australian was in 15th place after her first run, then laid down three significantly better attempts for eleventh, tenth and 12th placings.
Her second run time of 59.31 seconds was the 11th fastest, just .87 seconds behind the quickest woman down the track, Noelle Pikus-Pace of the United States. The third run, for tenth, was also less than a second outside the fastest time.
Pederson claimed the second world title of her career with a total time of three minutes 52.42 seconds. Pikus-Pace was just one tenth of a second slower, with Michelle Kelly of Canada in third place, .76 behind the winner.
In a clear indication of how much Hoar’s driving skill has developed in a very short time, she did not gain the placings through superior speed at the start, recording start times between 10th and 14th.
AIS Coach Terry Holland, a former US men’s coach, was understandably elated about the result.
“It’s been an amazing 11 weeks,” he said
“This was an outstanding field – there were four former world champions and two or three World Cup champions in it.”
“In her third run, Melissa was just seven tenths of a second slower than the 2004 world champion Diana Sartor, and she was faster than the top Canadian who was racing on her home track.”
“Every day on the ice the group makes incremental improvements – in their push times, or their driving or their turns.”
“There has been a real buzz around here. People started off saying ‘oh yeah, Australia’s gone and got some fast pushers’, but the girls have been out-driving much more experienced competitors and that has been hugely satisfying for us.”
“It’s also not an easy track. You can make a lot of mistakes here. The track changed between the first and second run with the weather and Melissa was one of only two sliders to improve their times in the second run.”
“I’m just over the moon about her result and about how far we have come in 11 weeks.”
Hoar, a two- time world beach flags champion, went into the event without any clear expectations.
“I was just hoping to get through the first round of selections when I started this, and wasn’t really thinking about a result here,” she said.
“Well, I was hoping for top ten, but that was only because I got to cut Terry’s hair if I made it, and he was feeling pretty safe when he made that deal.”
“There hasn’t been much down time over the past few months.”
“I went all out from the first run, but we have been learning every single run we take and that’s what happened today, I guess, with the better places.”
“When I walked into the start hut there were people there who I thought ‘I’ve seen you on TV, and you’ve been at the Olympics’ but once you start pushing and racing, that goes to the back of your mind.”
“Now it’s back to Australia tomorrow, then push camps in June and July, then selections, and it’s less than a year to the Games.”
In the men’s event, Australian Shaun Boyle finished in 22nd place, 1.04 seconds outside the top 20 and the chance of a fourth run. Canadian Jeff Pain took the world title, 3:44.52, .8 ahead of Swiss slider Gregor Staehli. Pain’s team-mate Duff Gibson took the bronze medal.
Hoar, who had her first trip down a skeleton track only last November as part of an Australian Institute of Sport talent identification program, posted a combined time of three minutes 56.62 seconds, 4.20 seconds behind the winning time of Maya Pedersen from Switzerland.
The 21-year-old Australian was in 15th place after her first run, then laid down three significantly better attempts for eleventh, tenth and 12th placings.
Her second run time of 59.31 seconds was the 11th fastest, just .87 seconds behind the quickest woman down the track, Noelle Pikus-Pace of the United States. The third run, for tenth, was also less than a second outside the fastest time.
Pederson claimed the second world title of her career with a total time of three minutes 52.42 seconds. Pikus-Pace was just one tenth of a second slower, with Michelle Kelly of Canada in third place, .76 behind the winner.
In a clear indication of how much Hoar’s driving skill has developed in a very short time, she did not gain the placings through superior speed at the start, recording start times between 10th and 14th.
AIS Coach Terry Holland, a former US men’s coach, was understandably elated about the result.
“It’s been an amazing 11 weeks,” he said
“This was an outstanding field – there were four former world champions and two or three World Cup champions in it.”
“In her third run, Melissa was just seven tenths of a second slower than the 2004 world champion Diana Sartor, and she was faster than the top Canadian who was racing on her home track.”
“Every day on the ice the group makes incremental improvements – in their push times, or their driving or their turns.”
“There has been a real buzz around here. People started off saying ‘oh yeah, Australia’s gone and got some fast pushers’, but the girls have been out-driving much more experienced competitors and that has been hugely satisfying for us.”
“It’s also not an easy track. You can make a lot of mistakes here. The track changed between the first and second run with the weather and Melissa was one of only two sliders to improve their times in the second run.”
“I’m just over the moon about her result and about how far we have come in 11 weeks.”
Hoar, a two- time world beach flags champion, went into the event without any clear expectations.
“I was just hoping to get through the first round of selections when I started this, and wasn’t really thinking about a result here,” she said.
“Well, I was hoping for top ten, but that was only because I got to cut Terry’s hair if I made it, and he was feeling pretty safe when he made that deal.”
“There hasn’t been much down time over the past few months.”
“I went all out from the first run, but we have been learning every single run we take and that’s what happened today, I guess, with the better places.”
“When I walked into the start hut there were people there who I thought ‘I’ve seen you on TV, and you’ve been at the Olympics’ but once you start pushing and racing, that goes to the back of your mind.”
“Now it’s back to Australia tomorrow, then push camps in June and July, then selections, and it’s less than a year to the Games.”
In the men’s event, Australian Shaun Boyle finished in 22nd place, 1.04 seconds outside the top 20 and the chance of a fourth run. Canadian Jeff Pain took the world title, 3:44.52, .8 ahead of Swiss slider Gregor Staehli. Pain’s team-mate Duff Gibson took the bronze medal.