22nd Place for Australia’s Bobsled Boys

Western Australian Institute of Sport athletes Gareth Nichols and Lucas Mata have realised their sporting dreams after the pair joined teammates Heath Spence and Duncan Harvey to compete in the four man bobsleigh at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games.

The WA duo, along with Spence were making their Olympic debuts, with the Australian team recording a 22^nd position finish, in which they were marginally short of qualifying for the top 20 fourth run.

With the Australians having overcome the obvious climactic and isolation challenges to qualify for Sochi, the group was also required to rent their competition sled from Latvia. Despite all the obstacles and challenges, the Australian four man team made the start line and recorded a combined three-run time of 2:48.64mins which ranked it 22^nd, some .3 of a second shy of qualification for the fourth and final run.

The gold medal went to hosts Russia, with Latvia taking silver ahead of the USA. There was to be no fairytale for the Jamaican Bobsled Team, with the Cool Runnings inspired outfit also missing the final cut.

Nichols took to social media to deliver the following message after competition.

“Battered, bruised and broken but we still kept kicking…THANKYOU for all your love and support from a far. Now off to the closing ceremony to enjoy in some festivities. It has been an honour to represent our great nation and an even greater honour to slide with Lucas, Dustin, Duncan and Heath.”

Australia’s future in the sport looks strong, with 28-year-old Mata planning to turn his attention to piloting ahead of the next Winter Games in PyeongChang in 2018. Spence, Harvey and Nichols have all not ruled out staying in the sport.

-with AOC