United States bobsleigher Elana Meyers crashed on her first official training run at the Sochi Winter Olympics earlier today.
The 29-year-old, who won a bronze at the Vancouver Games four years ago and was runner-up at the World Cup this season, played down the incident at the Sanki Sliding Centre, insisting that crashing is part of the sport.
"Not a fun ride. I got late into curve 16 [out of 17], I didn't know it was even possible to crash in curve 16 but I got in late," Meyers told reporters following the spill. "I touched the sled [against the wall], and when you do that, when you are that late, the sled shoots through the roof.
"There is that danger, that risk at every single corner, the possibility that something could go wrong... but the coolest thing is saying, 'Hey, I crashed, but I'm going to go back up there and do it again.' Every curve is an opportunity to fix something and get better."
Meyers's crash follows an incident yesterday when a track worker suffered two broken legs after being struck by a forerunner sleigh.
Giuseppe Labellarte
