'I thought I lost'
Winter Olympics 2018 – Dom Parsons wins bronze for Great Britain in men’s skeleton at PyeongChang
Parsons started his run in third place and thought he had blown it - but went on to win Team GB's first medal at the Games
TEAM GB's Dom Parsons won a dramatic bronze medal in the men's skeleton in PyeongChang - Great Britain's first in the Games.
Starting his final run in third place, Parsons thought he had blown it when he slipped behind Russia's Nikita Tregubov with two racers still to go.
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But Latvian Martins Dukurs lost time on the lower part of the course to hand Parsons a bronze - Great Britain's first medal in the men's skeleton since 1948.
A jubilant Parsons said of his surprise bronze: "It hasn't really sunk in yet. I thought I'd lost it after that fourth run, it felt like it'd had gone.
"But Martins Dukurs has made some more mistakes and he's the last person I'd expect that from.
"It's been great, all the work we've put in has paid off."
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Parsons had won his first and only World Cup podium in Calgary in 2013 but sporadically threatened the podium since, including a fourth place in St Moritz last month.
But working closely with his sled designer, former Great Britain Olympian Kristan Bromley, Parsons concentrated on getting his set-up just right for the PyeongChang track.
A series of impressive runs in official training raised the prospect of Parsons earning an unlikely place on the Olympic podium - and he followed it through in style on to make a medal breakthrough for Britain on Thursday - day seven of the Games.
Parsons added: "It's incredible. Four years of work has gone into this, right from after Sochi I started working with Kristan Bromley and this has been the goal from that point.
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"Sometimes it seemed like it wasn't that close in coming and it's just amazing that it's all come together this time."
Team GB chef de mission Mike Hay told BBC Sport: "Great credit to Dom, what a fantastic four runs he's put together.
"We always thought Dom could be competitive. This was really needed to start the team off, someone who wasn't expected to medal."
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