Olympics - Skeleton - British flop show raises questions about equipment

YANQING, China : As Laura Deas got ready to slide down the Yanqing ice track, the Briton knew that she was carrying the expectations of a nation that had won the women's skeleton title at the last three Winter Olympics.

Add in the little detail that she had claimed bronze in Pyeongchang four years ago behind champion Lizzie Arnold, the pressure really was on - especially since her country had yet to win a medal of any colour in Beijing.

But all that pressure could not help her to slide down the track in a time that would put her in contention for a medal.

On Saturday she finished a lowly 19th, almost four seconds behind German gold-medallist Hannah Neise. Her team mate Brogan Crowley finished 22nd.

A shellshocked Deas was reduced to tears in the aftermath of her run.

"I think it was a really good run and I'm very proud to be finishing on that one. I think it's probably one of the best runs I've done down this track," a tearful Deas told Reuters.

"Obviously the speed that I so desperately want is not there. There's nothing I can do about it now, it's done. I will go away and review what's happened and take it from there."

Women's skeleton has been the one winter sport in which British athletes have regularly been world beaters, winning at least one medal at every Games since the race was introduced into the Olympic programme in 2002, with Amy Williams (2010) and Arnold (2014 and 2018) bringing home the gold.

That success led to a significant amount of investment being made into the sport, giving British Olympic hopefuls access to top of the range helmets, aerodynamic skinsuits and skeleton bobsleds.

Four years ago the team's skinsuits provoked grumbles from rivals who thought the outfits unfairly gave the British contingent a