Kelsea Purchall is a Youth Olympic medallist after taking bronze in the women’s monobob event today at Lillehammer 2016.
In snowy conditions in Norway, Purchall finished with a combined time of 1:57.67 from her two runs, 0.26 seconds off Germany’s Laura Nolte who took gold and 0.02 seconds shy of Mercedes Schulte from Austria who won silver.
Team GB’s Annabel Chaffey (1:57.82) and Aimee Davey (1:57.88) finished just shy of the podium positions in fourth and fifth respectively.
The 17-year-old from Exeter had come into the event ranked number one in the world and was delighted to win bronze after sitting outside the medals after her first run.
Purchall said: “I’m amazed to win bronze and I didn’t think it was going to happen after my first run and sitting in fourth.
“I really had to buck my game up for the second run and knew I had to try harder and perform better.
“I put down a good second run and had my fastest ever start time so I’m really pleased with that – I don’t think I could have done any better.
“The whole atmosphere is amazing and hopefully now I can push onto the seniors and test myself at that level.
“I get such a buzz from driving sleds. I used to play a lot of rugby but I’ve really got the bug for bobsleigh and this is what I want to do.”