Greta Small has fought off the flu to record the best ever Downhill result by an Australian woman at JeongSeon Alpine Centre.
ALPINE SKIING: Greta Small has fought off the flu to record the best ever Downhill result by an Australian woman at JeongSeon Alpine Centre.
The 22-year-old charged down the course in 1:42.07 to see her claim 20th place and a spot in Australian alpine history.
“I’m really happy with that result,” Small said.
“I woke up with the flu this morning and only really had 75% energy so I just went out there and did my best today.”
Small’s time was just 2.85 seconds behind Italy’s Sofia Goggia who won the gold ahead of Norway’s Ragnhild Mowinckel and Lindsay Vonn of the USA. Only three skiers were within a second of the Italian gold medallist.
https://twitter.com/AUSOlympicTeam/status/966159305865965568
“It’s a PB result for me and a PB only being that far off first [place].
“2.85 seconds might sound like a lot but you can lose a lot of time in Downhill.
“I improved a lot on my training runs so I’m happy with the time and the result.”
The young gun has been feeding off the support in PyeongChang as well as back home.
“I’ve got my dad here with me but my mum is watching back home in Albury.
“My local primary school even finished an hour early and all watched the race together. That was really cool."
The result bettered her 29th place finish when she competed at her debut Olympic Games in Sochi.
Steve Lee is the only Australian athlete to record a better Olympic Downhill result. He claimed 19th in the event at the 1984 Sarajevo Games.
Tomorrow Small will now line up in her final event of the Games, the Combined, which features a Downhill run and a Slalom run. It was that event she recorded her best Olympic result to date, 15th, in Sochi.
“The goal is go fast.
“I want to put down another solid time in the Downhill run and then go for it in the slalom.”
Matt Bartolo
olympics.com.au
