Bree Walker has cemented Australia's best ever Olympic bobsleigh result, as she jumped up the leaderboard to finish fifth after a pulsating final day of racing in the women's monobob.
From yesterday sitting tenth after her first run and seventh after her second, Bree came out firing to put down the second fastest times in both runs three and four to jump into fifth overall.
Bree gave herself every opportunity to continue to climb the rankings, notching 1:04.16 in run three to jump to fifth, and 1:05.21 in run four which showed she is in the top echelon of monobob pilots.
The USA took out the gold-silver quinella with Kaillie Humphries and Elana Meyers Taylor, while Canada's Christine de Bruin in third was just 0.43 of a second ahead of Bree's overall time of 4:21.26.
After missing out on PyeongChang 2018, Bree was ecstatic to keep her promise to not only qualify for Beijing 2022, but to mix it with the best in the world.
"I'm so proud to achieve our best ever result in Olympic bobsled," Bree said post-race.
"You can never count an Aussie out, I fought back today. The girls who are out there are the best pilots in the world, to be fifth in the world behind them at my first Olympics, I'm so happy.
"Four years ago I was on the sidelines at the Olympics and now I'm fifth, in a highlight event where I'm a proper competitor, challenging those girls who I watched four years ago. It's worth all the effort.
"I wanted to be able to show people at home and around the world. If you want something hard enough you can go out and make it happen."
Bree's finish means the Australian Team has now notched its best ever Olympic results in each of the sliding disciplines – which is a combination of Bree's fifth, Jackie Narracott's skeleton silver and Alex Ferlazzo's 16th in luge.
Bree will now join teammate Kiara Reddingius in the two-woman bobsleigh, with training runs starting tomorrow before the first day of competition on Friday 18 February.
olympics.com.au
Dominic Sullivan
From yesterday sitting tenth after her first run and seventh after her second, Bree came out firing to put down the second fastest times in both runs three and four to jump into fifth overall.
Bree gave herself every opportunity to continue to climb the rankings, notching 1:04.16 in run three to jump to fifth, and 1:05.21 in run four which showed she is in the top echelon of monobob pilots.
The USA took out the gold-silver quinella with Kaillie Humphries and Elana Meyers Taylor, while Canada's Christine de Bruin in third was just 0.43 of a second ahead of Bree's overall time of 4:21.26.
After missing out on PyeongChang 2018, Bree was ecstatic to keep her promise to not only qualify for Beijing 2022, but to mix it with the best in the world.
"I'm so proud to achieve our best ever result in Olympic bobsled," Bree said post-race.
"You can never count an Aussie out, I fought back today. The girls who are out there are the best pilots in the world, to be fifth in the world behind them at my first Olympics, I'm so happy.
"Four years ago I was on the sidelines at the Olympics and now I'm fifth, in a highlight event where I'm a proper competitor, challenging those girls who I watched four years ago. It's worth all the effort.
"I wanted to be able to show people at home and around the world. If you want something hard enough you can go out and make it happen."
Bree's finish means the Australian Team has now notched its best ever Olympic results in each of the sliding disciplines – which is a combination of Bree's fifth, Jackie Narracott's skeleton silver and Alex Ferlazzo's 16th in luge.
Bree will now join teammate Kiara Reddingius in the two-woman bobsleigh, with training runs starting tomorrow before the first day of competition on Friday 18 February.
olympics.com.au
Dominic Sullivan
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