Olympics-Australia hails record Winter Games medal haul after surprise skeleton success

By Ian Ransom

(Reuters) - Australia's Olympic delegation bathed in pride on Sunday as the country hailed a record Winter Games medal haul for their team and an unlikely hero in skeleton racer Jackie Narracott.

Narracott's surprise silver in women's skeleton on Saturday pushed Australia to a record fourth medal in Beijing, following gold for freestyle skier Jakara Anthony, snowboarder Scotty James' silver and bronze for women's snowboarder Tess Coady.

"It is a fantastic morning," Australia chef de mission Geoff Lipshut told reporters in Zhangjiakou on Sunday. "It was (an) absolute thrill last night, it was history-making."

While long known for punching above their weight at the Summer Olympics, Australia have made strides in winter sports over the past two decades despite little snowfall and short winters compared to northern hemisphere powers.

The team's success in Beijing, however, has been an unexpected delight given the challenges many of the country's 43 athletes have faced preparing for the Games through the COVID-19 pandemic.

Until recently, Australia's travel bans, border controls and 14-day quarantine requirement for international arrivals proved hugely disruptive, forcing many Games hopefuls to tear up their training and travel plans.

With a smaller athlete contingent than the 50 who competed at the Pyeongchang Games, Australia's Olympic officials had modest expectations for Beijing and might gladly have taken the 2018 haul of two silvers and a bronze if offered beforehand

That they can now savour a record is thanks largely to the doggedness of 31-year-old Queenslander Narracott, whose pursuit of Olympic success has been almost completely self-funded.

REMARKABLE EFFORT

Australia had a skeleton programme from