British skeleton star Laura Deas prepared for the upcoming World Championships in style as she produced a scintillating second run to clinch bronze in Calgary, her first World Cup medal of the season.
The 2018 Olympic Winter Games bronze medallist found herself in seventh place after the first run of the World Cup season finale, having posted a time of 59.26 seconds.
But she delivered the joint-fastest time on the second run (58.42s) along with eventual winner, Germany’s Tina Hermann, to claim the final podium place with an overall time of 1:57.68 minutes.
The 30-year-old finished 0.29 seconds behind gold medallist Hermann, who won with a combined time of 1:57.39, while home favourite Mirela Rahneva took silver in 1:57.52.
It was Deas’ first World Cup medal since she won bronze in Lake Placid in January 2016 and came a day after she had finished sixth in a make-up race for one cancelled in Germany earlier this season.
"I'm really chuffed with the bronze," she said. "It’s great to be back on a podium - it’s what I’m always aiming for and it’s a pretty special feeling.
“It's been quite a disrupted season for me, missing two races and lots of ice time due to illness and injury, so I'm really pleased to be finding some form as I head towards the Worlds.
“We've been up against it here this week with only one day of training before a double race, but the whole team has pulled together really well to put in some strong performances.
“The last time I raced here was four years ago, so I just had to try and get everything I could out of the training day and put down the best runs I could in the race.
"I did that in the second run and I’m really pleased to end the World Cup on a high.”
Hermann was fourth in the first of two runs, but her time of 58.42 seconds on her second pass – matched by Deas – put her in the gold-medal position.
Calgary’s Elisabeth Maier had led the way after the opening run, but she dropped to fourth following her second run having earned a bronze medal on Friday.
Russia’s Elena Nikitina, who finished in fifth on Saturday, won the season’s overall World Cup title ahead of Hermann in second while Rahneva was third.
Deas now turns her attention to the World Championships in Whistler in a little under a fortnight’s time, where she will look to better her best-ever finish of seventh – achieved in 2015.
Sportsbeat 2019