Winter Olympics: Relieved Sanford impresses in skeleton

New Zealander Ben Sandford said he was relieved by his skeleton performance which saw him finish 10th in the competition at Cesana Pariol this morning.

The 26-year-old from Hamilton was 11th fastest in a field of 27 in his first run - timed at 59.16s and improved on his second ride - clocking 58.60 to move into 10th overall.

Sandford has had a couple of top 10 finishes at World Cup events but this was his best showing in a major race.

Sanford said he was happy with his 10th place.

"You don't want to get to the Olympics and mess it up, so it was a relief to come 10th. You always want to finish higher, but 10th was a good placing."

Sandford -- coached by his uncle, Bruce, himself the world skeleton champion in 1992 -- took up the discipline in 2002 and took a 21st placing at the 2004 world championships and 13th last year.

The skeleton gold medal went to the Canadian, Duff Gibson, whose overall time of 1min 55.88s, was 1.88s faster than Sandford's. The men touched speeds of 125km/h today on the slick course.

- NZPA