For the first time in the history of the Olympic Games, a Russian athlete won a bronze medal in the skeleton.
In the history of the Olympic Games, Russian athletes who compete in the female skeleton discipline have never climbed the podium. Until 2014, the best Russian skeleton athlete was Ekaterina Mironova, who was able to take only seventh place at the Olympic Games in Canada.
On the Sanki luge and bobsleigh track, the Russian skeleton team was represented by three athletes at once in this type of competition - Elena Nikitina, Olga Potylitsyna and Maria Orlova. According to the results of the Olympic race, all three girls entered the top six, which is quite a good result for the team.
The women's skeleton competition lasted for two days. After the first day of competition, Elena Nikitina occupied the third line of the standings, and was able to hold on to this position after her last race. Her total time to complete the course based on the results of four races was 3 minutes and 54, 30 seconds. The victory in the form of an Olympic gold medal in this sport went to the representative of England - Elizabeth Yarnold, and the silver - to Noel Picus-Pace (USA).
An interesting fact was that Elena Nikitina began to engage in skeleton quite unexpectedly, before she played for the Moscow national football team. She got into the Russian national skeleton team only in 2009. At her very first participation in the World Cup, Nikitina immediately took tenth place, ahead of her compatriots by several positions. The bronze Olympic medal in Sochi is not the only podium for the 21-year-old athlete. In January 2013, she became the first Russian girl to win the European Skeleton Championship.
