British duo prepare for descent

Sheffield skeleton duo Shelley Rudman and Kristan Bromley, who design and build their own state-of-the-art sleds at the Advanced Manufacturing Park in South Yorkshire, compete in the first two runs of the women's and men's competition, respectively.

The final two runs are scheduled for the early hours of Saturday morning with high expectations that Turin silver medallist Rudman, in particular, will deliver again.

She has finished the last two World Cup seasons in second place and although she was down in eighth and 10th after yesterday's practice runs at the Whistler sliding centre, she sees no cause for concern.

"I had a few questions in my mind about the track and now I've answered them," said Rudman, 28.

"I use these runs to learn about how I approach the track and I've done that. I know what the deal is now.

"I am in with a shout but I have to be realistic. If I come away with a medal I will be over the moon."

Her fiance, Bromley, whose exhaustive scientific research helped him claim the 2008 world and European titles, fared slightly better in yesterday's practice, finishing fourth and ninth, but again it was about fine-tuning performance and assessing the track.

Bromley, who has even been testing the temperature of the 90mph track to determine the best racing line, said: "There's a big cluster of us near the top and we are still all working out the track. The second run was a difficult set-up but it is all about fact-finding."

Eve Muirhead held her nerve to give Britain's women curlers a winning start to their Winter Olympics campaign.

Muirhead delivered the winning stone on an extra end to secure a 5-4 victory over world champions China in the first of their round robin matches.

After China took an early lead Muirhead, Jackie Lockhart, Kelly Wood and Lorna Evers recovered to establish 3-1 and 4-2 advantages.

But China, skipped by Bingyu Wang, rallied to square the match at 4-4 and force an extra 11th end.

China had two stones in the house when Muirhead sent down the hammer to knock out one Chinese stone and edge closest to the button, the innermost circle of the house.

"I've skipped for several years now so that's what you have to do, especially in an atmosphere like that with thousands of people watching and back home," said Muirhead. "You get used to the pressure to be honest. Most of these games come down to the wire and these shots are going to have to be made, so I'm delighted I made it."

Britain's Chemmy Alcott delivered a solid run when the women's downhill skiing event got under way at Whistler Creekside.

Alcott was second on the start list and watched as Klara Krizova of the Czech Republic fell and failed to complete the course.

Alcott had an untroubled run and became the first woman to complete the course clocking 1:47.31.

Pre-race favourite Lindsey Vonn set the pace by clocking an impressive 1:44.75, which gave her the lead ahead of fellow American Julia Mancuso who had raced to a time of 1:44.75.

With 16 of the 45-strong field having completed their runs, Alcott was lying in 10th place.

Teenage British pair Andrew Musgrave and Andrew Young finished 58th and 60th respectively in the men's individual sprint classic at Whistler Olympic Park.

Musgrave finished in a time of 3:58.43 while Young clocked 4:02.19.