It was a case of ecstasy and agony for Bree Walker and Kiara Reddingius at the Yanqing ‘Dragon' track, laying down a scintillating run to jump into top-10 contention before a challenging final run saw them finish 16th in the two-woman bobsleigh.

Entering the night in 12th after the first two of four runs completed yesterday, the pair laid down a 1:02.04 in run three to jump into 11th, within striking distance of a top-10 finish.

However, a difficult fourth run saw a 1:02.51 time for the duo to finish with a combined time of 4.08.64 in 16th.

The event was dominated by Germany, who took out gold and silver, with USA winning bronze. The winning pair of Laura Nolte and Deborah Levi finished well clear of the pack, more than 1.5 seconds ahead of bronze and 4.68 seconds ahead of the Australian duo.

The Australian pair's finish is just short of Astrid Loch-Wilkinson and Kylie Reed's 14th at Torino 2006, Australia's best ever result in the discipline. The full body of Bree and Kiara's four runs show the pair finished less than half a second outside the top 10.

While disappointed at their final run, the pair were proud of their campaign to take on the giants of the bobsleigh world.

"I don't have words for how I'm feeling yet, I'm still comprehending what has happened," Bree said. "It's been a huge campaign but I'm so grateful for our team, we've worked so hard.

"I really wanted to fix up a few mistakes I had been making all week and I think that last run I wanted it too bad.

"We couldn't have made it here or achieved what we have on our own, I'm so grateful for the team. We're all pretty much freshies, on our first Olympics, out here having a crack and making it happen."

Bree was excited to head back to Australia after more than two years away from friends and family chasing her bobsleigh dream in Europe and North America.

"We're going to head home and come down from this whole experience. I'm so excited to see my family, it's been two and a half years, I can't wait to give you all a hug."

Brakewoman Kiara, who only paired with Bree for the first-time last year, paid tribute to the work the team had put in to make their debut Olympics.

"I'm really proud of how we've done this whole campaign," the West Australian said. "This is our first Olympics and just our fourth race together.

"The thing I really like about Bree is she's willing to risk it, she's willing to chuck herself out there to find the fast lines. It might not have worked out in that final run, but we gave every single part of ourselves to this experience and this journey, you can't be more proud or happy with that.

"I'm honoured to slide with Bree and be part of this team. It's been a really long season for us, we've been away from Australia for so long."

While they would have liked to have been better in their final run, they know that doesn't define the next four years as they continue to grow and challenge the traditional sliding heavyweights.

"I love the sport and everything about it," Kiara said.

"If we can get some support behind us, it's a big campaign, I'm going to try my best to really pump it up for the future."

And after achieving Australia's best ever Olympic bobsleigh result with fifth in the monobob, and achieving 16th after just their first season together, the future is looking very bright for Australian women's bobsleigh.

olympics.com.au
Dominic Sullivan

It was a tough day on the ice for Kailani Craine, but the Newcastle skater put on a brave performance despite an early error.
 
The two-time Olympian looked calm and confident as her music started, but pulled out of her opening triple lutz - only rotating twice to execute a double jump.

"I was in shock, I don't know what happened. I'm still trying to process it," Kailani said.

"That's so uncharacteristic of me and it shook me a bit. It felt like I picked too heavy on the takeoff and didn't run my edge."

But in a remarkable show of courage the 23-year-old rallied quickly, completing a triple-triple combination and a double axel.

"I was really proud of myself for getting straight back into the program and feeling really present in the music, it felt really emotional and I gave it my best.

"The hardest part is knowing that I can do so much better than that, and I'm sorry if I disappointed anyone.

"I felt like I had the most support I've ever had from people back home and it hurts that I couldn't deliver for everyone."

Her short program score of 49.93 was not high enough to proceed to the free skate on Thursday.

Despite an early end to her Beijing schedule, it's not the end of the road for the talented figure skater - who will return to competition for the World Championships in March.

"I'm determined to come back stronger from this. Right now it hurts, but once I have time to process it I'm going to learn from my mistakes and be better."

olympics.com.au
Katherine Firkin

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

Bree Walker opened her Olympic monobob campaign in style, sitting in seventh position after the first two of four runs.

With the sport making its Olympic debut, the 20 competitors took to the track in tough conditions, with dumping snow and much colder conditions than during the three days of training ensuring athletes had to adapt to the new ice conditions.

Bree started with a 1:05.55 to sit tenth after her first run, with a number of wall touches in the top section robbing her of her top speed.

As conditions toughened, Bree put down an almost identical 1:05.54 in the second run. Several of her rivals struggled to maintain their speed in the tougher conditions, and Bree jumped up three spots to sit seventh.

Bree is 1.99 seconds behind leader Kaillie Humphries of the USA and 0.77 behind current bronze positioned slider Laura Nolte of Germany.

Bree said she was happy with her improvements and is focused on putting herself in the mix in tomorrow's final runs.

"I'm not making it easy for myself that's for sure, but I'm a fighter and will keep climbing back up the tally board," Bree said.

"The track was colder today, with harder ice, but I don't think it affected our results. I need to focus on what I need to do in my process.

"I know I can continue to be consistent and clean up my runs. I was really happy with the second run in general. I need to go and replicate that tomorrow.

"I've worked really hard to be here, I'm so proud to be here [for] the first time monobob has been at the Olympics."

The 29-year-old will hit the track tomorrow at 12:30pm AEDT for her third and fourth runs, with medals decided on combined times after the fourth run.

olympics.com.au
Dominic Sullivan

Sporting history has been made in the women's skeleton thanks to an incredible silver-medal performance from Jackie Narracott, who has won the first ever sliding sport medal for Australia at an Olympic Games.

In one of the most terrifying and daring sports at the Olympics, Jackie showed nerves of steel over the two days of competition to make Australia proud in a performance for the ages.

An achievement 10 years in the making for Jackie, she started the second night of her competition with a run that was almost textbook perfect. It began with a stunning push start in just 5.27 seconds and Jackie was looking composed on the first few turns, in clear control of her sled and the aerodynamics as she began to pick up speed.

A little battle out of corner four and into five didn't seem to faze the sliding sensation, as she quickly recovered and reached a top speed of 126.8km/h.

Jackie completed her run in record time (1:01.79), setting a new track record at the time on the ‘Dragon' course which helped her overall time (3:06.13). That third run was good enough for Jackie to hold the silver medal position entering everyone's fourth and final run.

Germany's Hannah Neise, who won the gold, followed Jackie's third run by eclipsing her track record with a time of 1:01.44 to bring her overall time to a leading 3:05.99.

There was just 0.14 seconds between the two athletes and an incredibly tight top seven, which all set up for a tight finish for the medals.

The order of competitors on the fourth and final run was adjusted to have the fastest athletes take their turn last, which meant there was an agonising 90-minute build up for Jackie.

Jackie had the second last run of the competition, and with ice in her veins she put herself in prime position to slide into history.

With a strong start, something consistent across all of her performances, Jackie flew down the track in perfect control. A sliding hero before she even stepped onto the track for her last shot at the medals, Jackie's incredible driving of her sled led to another fast time of 1:02.11 which gave her an overall time of 4:08.24.

Overcome with emotion, Jackie's performance guaranteed herself a medal. The skeleton superstar secured a silver medal for not just her home state of Queensland, but all of Australia.

When Jackie was asked about her performance, she said she had hoped for her best on the day.

"I think coming in [before winning gold at Saint Moritz in January] I would have been happy with top ten." Jackie said.

"After my Saint Moritz result, I knew it was a possibility [for a medal] but our field of competitors is ridiculous so to come out with this is pretty incredible.

"I don't think you can [describe the feeling of winning an Olympic medal]. It's just everything I've dreamt of. It's going to take a while for everything to sink in."

It was a performance that shocked the Skeleton world. The historic achievement is even more incredible give it was only a few years ago a severe concussion left Jackie unsure if she would ever drive a car again, let alone a skeleton sled to win an Olympic silver medal.

he credits Dom Parsons who is her husband, coach and an Olympic medallist for playing a vital role in the comeback.

"It's so nice to share this with him. To have him by my side and have me calm is just the best."

"It's everything to me to finally get here, and to finally do this is unbelievable.

"I can't wait to see family at the airport and put this around their neck. We did it.

"I would love this to be catalyst for more girls to get into this sport."

With a face of elation, tears of joy, a huge smile and a silver medal - it was a moment that Jackie and an entire nation will never forget.

olympics.com.au
Shannon Knaus

Jackie Narracott has taught the Yanqing dragon to breathe fire.

She narrowly missed the top spot in her first run by +0.02 of a second but her next run was phenomenal, sliding her into the top spot by a significant 0.21 margin, throwing down the gauntlet to her rivals in a stunning display of sledding.

The 31-year-old from Brisbane is loving the track and says she can get even more speed as she heads to the finals.

"I am stoked. There's more in both of those runs but I don't care, it's just so much fun," Jackie exclaimed. "I was just calm and fun and I did everything I needed to do to come down with my record which is unreal.

"Then to be sitting in first is more than I could have hoped for. To be actually siting here is pretty cool. This field is ridiculously competitive and to be sitting on top of it is phenomenal.

"It was always going to be a good race and I knew that if I put down two runs, calm and composed, I knew I was going to be in the mix. But that still doesn't make it any less exciting to be sitting in number one."

Jackie's dominance in her opening campaign is tipped to draw more attention to both her and the sport. She spoke about what this means to her heading into tomorrow's final.

"Hopefully this will get more girls inspired to give it a shot.

"It would be absolutely unreal if we actually got some more girls back into skeleton.

In January, Jackie won her first World Cup at Saint Moritz in Switzerland and became Australia's first ever World Cup gold medallist in Skeleton.

When asked about what created that turning point back in January she said "I had my husband and my coach by my side."

"Whereas all year we have been doing sessions via FaceTime and online. So, to have him here, by my side, where we can do video and work in real time and to have that support with me is huge.

"He was here at the test event for three weeks and he was at Saint Moritz for that week also."

Moving into the final, she has a cool head and wants to stay grounded.

"I try to stay in the moment, not watch too much TV, don't think too far ahead and just try to distract myself so that come 9pm tomorrow night (12am AEDT Monday), I am ready to go."

Her final preparation we be focused on ironing out any minor details and the millimetres that will make the biggest difference.

"[Tonight, I will be] going back through my runs and seeing what little tweaks we need to make and then it's just about recovery.

"First of all, just making sure my legs are ready to keep pushing fast tomorrow night and then just trying to keep my brain occupied and calm and not think too far ahead."

olympics.com.au
Jonathan Sweet

Last year Brendan Kerry was considering quitting skating altogether. Today he launched himself into the next round of figure skating - and into the historic books - after a blistering short program that was near-perfect.

The 27-year-old joins rare company, confirming his place as a three-time Olympian - a particularly challenging feat in Figure Skating.

"What kept me going was that I didn't really know what I wanted to do, so I continued to train and turn up to the rink," Brendan said.

"There were days that I really loved it, so I ended up going on."

But the lead-up to his third Olympics was far from smooth, and looked to be over just as quickly as it had started.

"At the end of last season my left leg was really badly injured and I had to take about three or four months off."

The injury, a result of extensive stress fractures over many years, was so significant he almost had to withdraw from the Olympic qualifier - just weeks out from the opening of the Beijing Winter Games.

"My coach came to me and said ‘we have to make a decision about intensive rehab or consider pulling out'. But I said ‘there's no way I'm missing the Olympic spot now'."

That brave decision has been well rewarded, after the Sydney-born skater produced one of the best short program skates in the men's field. His almost clean routine has seen him easily advance through to the free skate.

After a rough morning practice session, Brendan was able to get his troublesome quadruple toe loop out with only a minor issue on the landing, and nailed his triple-triple combination and triple axel.

"I'm not an overly emotional person but I'm an emotional mess right now. It's hard not to shed a tear," Brendan said.

"I've been struggling with my leg issues and being isolated from friends and family for so long, so to go out and do that just feels so special.

"If I could give a message to everyone back home, I'm beyond appreciative of all the support I've had."

The attention now turns to the free program - an exhaustive routine that's more than four minutes in length.

"All season I've done pretty consistent short programs but the long program for some reason has been inconsistent so my goal now is to go out and put a good free skate down. That's something I feel like I really need to do."

olympics.com.au
Katherine Firkin

After a dramatic return from injury, a season's best score and the "greatest skate" of his life - it's impossible to wipe the smile off Brendan Kerry's face.

The Australian figure skater overcame the most dramatic of returns from injury to succeed in the men's singles event and capped it off with a dominating free skate performance. He earned 160.01 points to smash his previous season's best score.

"I'm ecstatic, I'm over the moon. It hasn't sunk in yet," Brendan said.

"I've never been as strong on my long programs as I have been with the short, so I put a lot of pressure on myself to deliver today, and to do that means the world."

The 27-year-old had intended on performing two quadruple jumps, but only executed one of them – opting to play it safe on the other and made it a triple.

"I'm a little bit disappointed I didn't do the quad salchow and for a while after that my brain was going into overdrive trying to work out if I could add another rotation in a different jump, but in the end I just left it. I reminded myself that this is the Olympics and I've just done the best I could do."

Despite a horror run into these Games – with Brendan battling injuries that almost saw him forced to retire from the sport entirely – the three-time Olympian has managed a dream campaign which he says "couldn't have gone any better."

"To have the honour of being Flag Bearer, to walk out at the Opening Ceremony and represent my country in that way, and then to put down two of my best skates under the most incredible pressure - that's just magical. It's going to take a bit of time for it all to sink in.

"All the attention that came with being Flag Bearer did make me feel more nervous, because I was worried I wouldn't do it justice. I kept saying to people ‘but what if I skate badly and just want to hide in the corner?' And then I realised the answer was that I had no choice, I had to skate well."

As to what comes next, Brendan is most excited about getting back to Australia and spending time with his family.

"I've been away for so long now, I actually can't wait to get on a plane and get back to Sydney and celebrate with everyone back home. I want to get some sunshine and process everything that's happened, and then I can make a decision on my skating future."

Whatever happens, there's no question that he has already left a lasting legacy on the sport. His record includes three Olympics and eight national titles.

"When I'm looking back on my career I'm going to be able to say "I did three of them, and this was the best Olympics by far.

"That's something no one can take away. That's pretty special."

olympics.com.au
Katherine Firkin

Tahli Gill and Dean Hewitt have finished a whirlwind final day in Beijing by knocking off Canada 10-8 in the mixed doubles curling.

They raced to a 7-0 lead against John Morris and Rachel Homan of Canada, but were forced to play a tiebreaking ninth end to put them away for good.

"In mixed doubles it's just so hard to feel safe. It's hard to keep that big lead with so much in play all the time," Tahli said.

"Sorry for giving everyone a heart attack!"

It capped off a remarkable day for the Aussie pair, as they can lay claim to defeating the PyeongChang 2018 mixed doubles gold and silver medallists just hours apart.

After seven tries, their historic first win at the Olympics came 9-6 against Switzerland. It was a wild match that the Aussie pair dictated when it mattered most to close the game on a 6-0 spurt.

They carried that form into the start of the Canada game, which increased their scoring streak to a combined 12 unanswered points.

Tahli and Dean almost faced an entirely different reality today that would have seen their two games against Switzerland and Canada be abandoned, which would have sent them home winless.

Speaking after their win over Switzerland earlier in the day, Tahli shed light on their eventful day.

"It has literally been the craziest, craziest 24 hours. My bags are still packed, I only just had time to pull out my uniforms," Tahli said.

"I was ruffling through my bags and ripping clothes out left, right and centre. I played with only one glove on - and it was the wrong one."

Dean had a similar experience, as they thought their Olympic campaign had been cut short.

"It was just crazy, mayhem, getting the uniforms on. The excitement in the (hotel) room was unbelievable," Dean said.

"It was so exciting to be able to get back out on the ice and play these last two games."

"It's one of those things where you don't realise what you've got until it's gone. Once we heard that we could actually play again, it made it extra special for us.

"We were like, ‘Let's embrace the Olympics, embrace what we have and be grateful for it'. Because it's something that can be taken away from you in a moment's notice.

He was taken aback by the reception they received at The Ice Cube.

"It's incredible. You walk out there onto the ice and nearly everyone comes up to you and says, ‘We're so happy that you're out here'. It just shows the camaraderie between curlers here."

The win against Canada carried more significance than most other matches for Tahli and Dean. They were directly competing against Canada's John Morris on the ice, who up until the Games started had been coaching them to qualify for the Olympics.

Morris is a dual Olympic gold medallist that needed to beat the Australians to feature in the mixed doubles semi-finals.

Playing with a weight off their shoulders, Tahli and Dean picked up three points in the opening end against the Canadians. They continued to overwhelm Canada in the second end, stealing two points in the round to give them a perfect start. Canada, desperate for an answer, used up their powerplay but to no avail as Australia stole another point.

Tahli, 22, was the youngest mixed doubles competitor in Beijing and Dean is only 27. The Beijing 2022 Games will be a great experience for them to build on, as their desire to compete at the Olympics has only gotten stronger.

"We came here to win as many games as we could. Unfortunately at the start of the week we couldn't quite make the extra half shot to win those games," Dean said.

Tahli added, "We're leaving the Olympics so proud.

"If anything, this whole experience has just made me and Dean so much more motivated. We're just going to knuckle down as soon as we get home and we're not going to stop until we're here again in the next four years."

Australia finished their round robin matches with a record of 2-7. On four occasions they only lost by a single point. In the space of five days they have inspired a nation to fall in love with Curling.

olympics.com.au
Jeff Dickinson-Fox

In an Australian Olympic first Tahli Gill and Dean Hewitt have recorded Australia's maiden curling win with a 9-6 triumph over Switzerland.

It was a wild match with constant momentum swings, but the Aussie pair dictated terms when it mattered to close the game on a 6-0 spurt.

"We put our hearts and souls into that game, to be able to come back with the win was really awesome," Tahli said.

The match nearly didn't go ahead, but much to the delight of Tahli and Dean they were given the green light to round out their Olympic campaign.

"I was ruffling through my bags and ripping clothes out left, right and centre. I played with only one glove on - and it was the wrong one," Tahli said.

"It was just crazy, mayhem, getting the uniforms on," Dean said.

"The excitement in the (hotel) room was unbelievable. It was so exciting to be able to get back out on the ice and play these last two games."

Key to the pair's success was the points they stole on Switzerland's hammer (an end where a team has the last stone to throw), as they grabbed four points with those opportunities.

Trailing 3-6 in the sixth round, Australia activated their powerplay and Tahli delivered a gem to finish the end.

The Swiss held a two-stone advantage with just Tahli's stone to come, and she caused a domino effect with Switzerland's scoring stones which cleared the way for a three-point advantage of Australia's own - a move that would have sent the Gill and Hewitt families into hysterics.

"We knew once we took the powerplay that we could push really hard for that three and stay right in the game, so making that shot it felt really good and we were finally able to get back in that game," Tahli said.

Switzerland took their powerplay in the seventh end and it finished in disaster for them, as Australia stole two points to regain the lead for good.

"No.1, to win in the Olympics is amazing, and No.2, under the circumstances, I think the resilience that we showed and just the pure passion coming out from us during that game - that's what we're all about," Dean said.

"I'm just so proud of Tahli being [able] to step up in that game, because I don't know how I would have been able to get through it myself."

Despite the interrupted preparation for the game, Dean's accuracy was a big reason the pair got off to a 3-0 lead after two ends.

Switzerland responded with six-straight points but they lost their rhythm and didn't recover.

Tahli and Dean will take to the ice one final time in Beijing for a match against Canada, beginning at 11:05pm AEDT on Channel 7 and 7plus.

The Canadian side has a familiar face for Australia in that of John Morris.

Morris, a 43-year-old who won bronze in the mixed doubles at PyeongChang 2018, will compete as an athlete and has been an influential coach for Tahli and Dean in their efforts to qualify for an Olympic debut.

olympics.com.au
Jeff Dickinson-Fox