Winter Olympics: Sussex bobsleigh star Hall reflects on tough start
Brad Hall lamented a difficult start to his Winter Olympic campaign as chances of a two-man bobsleigh medal faded.
The Crawley ace, who was born in Chichester, carried the British flag at the opening ceremony alongside figure skater Lilah Fear and has been chomping at the bit after a week on the sidelines waiting for the bobsleigh schedule to start.
His better medal chance comes in the four-man event this weekend, with Germany so dominant in the two-man they are expected to sweep the medals.
But Hall was still disappointed with his performance on Monday morning as he slipped 1.68 seconds off the pace in Cortina.
The 35-year-old pilots the sled, while teammate Taylor Lawrence provides the muscle at the start. The pair will complete four runs, and at the halfway stage, they are eighth.
“It was definitely a very difficult day,” he said. “The track is extremely difficult to be consistent down, especially in a bobsleigh.
“We have seen a lot of people jumping all over the place. We didn’t quite do well enough on our second run, we lost quite a bit of time to some and gained on others.
“We need to go back to the drawing board and see what we can do better tomorrow.”
As expected, Germany’s Johannes Lochner – widely regarded as the best ever – is at the front, while two more German sleds are second and third.
Hall is just 0.40s off bronze but with four other sleds in between, it is unlikely he will be able to jump them all.
“It is not surprising at all, the German sleds are flying as well and Lochner especially,” he added. “He has been brilliant in the two-man and four-man and above all the other German athletes. The German sleds are in a league of their own at the moment.”
Hall is hoping to follow in the footsteps of fellow slider Matt Weston, who made British history by winning double gold at the same Winter Olympics.
“It has been amazing to watch Matt and the skeleton guys and girls compete,” he added. “It spurs us on, we want to be up there winning medals alongside them. We are very proud of them.
“Now we just want to pick it up tomorrow and start to get ready for the four-man as well and be on the podium.”
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