Jenny Jones Wins First GB Sochi Olympic Medal

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The snowboarder rides high to become only the second Briton ever to be awarded a medal on snow in the Winter Olympics.

 

Snowboarder Jenny Jones has won Britain's first medal at the Sochi Winter Olympics, taking a bronze in the slopestyle event.

The 33-year-old had to endure a nailbiting finish as other top riders completed their final runs - but she held on to a podium place.
Jones's success gives Britain an extremely rare success on snow after Alain Baxter was controversially stripped of his medal in 2002.

The 33-year-old learnt her skills on a dry slope

Fifth after her first run, Jones - who learnt on a dry slope in Bristol - had an error-free second run that put her in gold medal position.
However, she was agonisingly knocked down the leaderboard by American Jamie Anderson, and silver medallist Enni Rukajarvi from Finland.

Jenny Jones celebrates with Enni Rukajarvi (right) and Jamie Anderson

"I can't believe it," an elated Jones told the BBC. "I did the best run I could have done for sure."
Jones had a tearful meeting with her parents after winning the medal - they had flown in to Russia to surprise her.
Among the famous names celebrating on Twitter was Olympic heptathlon gold medallist Jessica Ennis-Hill, who posted: "Amazing @jennyjonessnow I was gripped!!"
Considered a snowboard veteran, the medal is the crowning glory for Jones in a career that also includes several X Games titles.
The snowboard slopestyle is making its debut at Sochi and sees riders take on a daunting downhill course of metal rails and massive jumps.
The potential dangers were made brutally clear when one of the other competitors, Sarka Pancochova, took a heavy fall and split her helmet.

Jones flies high during a Sochi practice session

Britain also had an impressive slopestyle showing on Saturday with two riders, Jamie Nicholls and Billy Morgan, making the final and finishing in the top 10.
The success of the British team has seen some people nickname them the 'fridge kids' after the indoor snow slopes where many of them learnt to ride.

The busted helmet of Sarka Pancochova after her high speed fall

Other Team GB medal hopefuls include Shelley Rudman and Lizzy Yarnold in the Skeleton Bob, Elise Christie in the speed skating, and the men’s and women’s curling teams.
Scottish skier Alain Baxter won Britain's first Winter Olympics medal on snow in 2002.
However, he was stripped of his bronze after a substance in a Vicks nasal inhaler caused him to fail a drugs test.