Sochi 2014: Torah Bright wins silver in women's halfpipe final; first medal for Australia in Sochi

Updated

Torah Bright has won Australia's first medal of the Sochi Games, picking up silver in the women's halfpipe final on Thursday morning (AEDT).

She finished behind American Kaitlyn Farrington (91.75), and ahead of Kelly Clark (90.75), also of the USA.

Bright could only muster 58.25 in her first effort of the final, but put together a stellar second run of 91.50 to sit 0.25 points behind Farrington.

Farrington's team-mate Clark went down last and no doubt had the defending gold medallist nervous after a brilliant run, but she fell 0.75 behind Bright's score.

Bright said the tight finish made for one of the most pressure-packed competitions of her career.

"I feel great. I feel like I won!," she told Channel Ten.

"Tonight was really difficult. Perhaps like one of the hardest contests I have done in a while.

Sorry, this video has expired Video: Torah Bright speaks after claiming silver (ABC News)

"So I'm so happy it is over and I am so happy I put a run down. I am grateful to be here."

The victory brings her level with Dale Begg-Smith as Australia's most successful Winter Olympian and she admitted to feeling the pressure on her all-or-nothing final run.

"I was actually thinking about my brother and everybody back home," she said.

"I am like, 'Why did I do that to them again? Leave it down to the last run. Why do I do it to myself?'

"That first run was feeling so beautiful, I got hung up on a front five. That was a little disappointing. I am a clutch performer. I pulled it out luckily."

Coach and brother Ben was understandably ecstatic following his sibling's excellent second run.

"After the first run, it was looking good and then unfortunately it didn't quite happen. So it was all or nothing and I am very happy," he said.

"I am very proud of her and I think that she will be proud of herself too."

After replacing Bright as the reigning Olympic champion, Farrington praised the versatile Australian.

"She is such a strong rider coming out here doing slope, pipe and boarder cross," she said.

"She is an inspiration to all of us ... It is awesome to be there with her."

Bright bypassed the semi-finals after posting a 93.00 on her first run to finish at the top of heat two.

While she and a number of other competitors had been critical of the course prior to the heats there was a notable difference before competition began.

"They have been putting a lot of work in and it's changed a lot," she said.

Bright was Australia's only hope in the final after Stephanie Magiros (18th) fell in the semis, while Hannah Trigger (20th) and Holly Crawford (26th) failed to get out of the heats.

Good end after bad start for Americans

Gold and bronze to Farrington and Clark was a nice takeaway for Team USA after their world champion Arielle Gold withdrew from the event after crashing in warm-up.

Farrington could hardly fathom she had won the title ahead of the 2010 and 2002 gold medallists.

"I can't really believe it right now. It is kind of - I am in no-man's-land," Farrington said.

"It's so special. We have been just riding together for a few years now. They are gold medallists and I just can't believe that I am one," she added of the women with whom she shared the podium

If not for Bright it would have been an all-American podium with another former Olympic champion, Torino 2006 winner Hannah Teter, finishing fourth after posting 90.50 on her first run.

That was enough to top the standings after the first round of the final but a fall in the second meant she only managed 26.75.

She was looking at a silver medal before Bright's run and was bumped off the podium by Clark - the competition's final rider.

Topics: winter-olympics, snow-boarding, sport, russian-federation, australia

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