Ireland’s Sean Greenwood last night had two unofficial practice runs at the Olympic Sliding Centre.
Greenwood who had track time last November said,
“The track is now in much better condition since last year, the ice is world class. The bottom half of the track is where sliders will gain or lose places”. His New Balance sponsored performance suit is wind tunnel tested and the fabric used makes it the fastest suit on the circuit.
28 athletes have qualified for Men’s Skeleton, each will undertake two runs on the 14th February, a further run on the 15th, with the top 20 completing a fourth run – with the best overall aggregate score to decide final position.
Greenwood had a final training camp in Konigssee last month, and has world class coaching support from former World Champion and Olympic Medallist Jeff Pain (Canada)
Each slider will now gets 2 official practice runs per day for 3 days before competition starts on the 14th February.
This morning however he watched teammate Seamus O’Connor with the rest of Team Ireland at Slopestyle adjacent to the Olympic Mountain Village.
SEAN GREENWOOD – SKELETON
Born in Vancouver, Sean, age 26, grew up in Western Canada and partly on the west coast of Ireland.
His mother, Sibéal Foyle (Ní Fhoighíl) emigrated to Canada from Galway in the early 1980′s and maintains deep family connections in Ireland. His father is Canadian, a chartered business valuator. Sean started skeleton racing in 2008 following a sporting career in competitive rugby.
After gaining a BA in Economics from the University of Calgary, he decided to take the opportunity to slide at the site of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Whistler BC, on the world’s fastest skeleton track.
A commercial helicopter pilot, Sean is based in Whistler, Canada working on fitness, sled preparation and general racing experience in order to compete for Team Ireland for four runs against the best in the world.
To date, Sean has performed impressively, winning gold, silver and bronze medals in the North America’s Cup in Whistler and New York’s Lake Placid, and at the Elektro Melcher competitions in San Moritz. Switzerland. He recently gained a World Cup spot as a result of his 2012-13 season and is currently ranked 25th in the world.
