After poor start, 30-year-old Londoner is fourth in skeleton and says ‘technology has an impact’

Team GB’s Dom Parsons says his high-tech kit could yet make all the difference as he recovered from two poor starts to be 0.03 seconds off a bronze medal at the halfway stage of the men’s skeleton.

The 30-year-old from London’s start times only put him 20th and 21st in the field of 30 competitors. But aided by his new aerodynamic kit, which has been the talk of these Winter Olympics, he rapidly picked up speed to finish his runs in 50.85 and 50.42 sec.

That left Parsons in fourth, 0.91 seconds behind the South Korean Sungbin Yun, who has the advantage of having slid hundreds of times on his home track compared to the half-a-dozen practice runs his rivals have enjoyed.

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However the Briton sits just 0.17 behind the Russian Nikita Tregubov and 0.03 behind Latvia’s Martin Dakurs – and is hoping a combination of better starts and his game-changing skin suits can make a difference.

“Those little differences you can make in technology do have an impact,” he said. “It is a bit like F1, obviously not with the same kind of budget or divas as some have a reputation for.”

Meanwhile the New Zealander Rhys Thornbury, who sits in eighth place, said he thought the suits could make a difference. “In a sport where equipment is involved it is always going to be key,” he said. “You look at Formula One, sometimes the guys who are winning aren’t the guys who are the best - it’s the guys with the best equipment.

“And in this sport as well it is all about equipment. It’s not just the suits – you are talking about runners and sleds too. But, yes, if they have got good suits it is going to help.”

Parson’s team-mate Jerry Rice lies in 12th position with a best run of 51.06 seconds.