Sheffield's Bromley to take time deciding his future

British skeleton veteran Kristan Bromley will not rush into any retirement decisions after finishing sixth in the men's event at Whistler Sliding Centre.

The 37-year-old, who finished fifth at the 2006 Winter Games in Turin, was bitterly disappointed not to have medalled this time around but he said he was looking forward to getting home to Sheffield with partner Shelley Rudman, who also finished sixth in the women's skeleton, to their daughter Ella-Marie.

"Spending time with my family, a little bit of routine and normality as I've really missed my little girl this week and then I'll reflect in the summer on what the future is for me," Bromley said when asked about his plans.

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"When I started to get involved with British Skeleton back in 1994 it was a very small association, a handful of athletes and it wasn't an Olympic sport.

"Since then, I've been part of 16 years of development and I'm really proud to say I've been men's No 1 through all that period.

"It's great that new athletes are coming in and rising to the challenge as well and I think that's really important that they do that."

Bromley said he felt no added pressure on him having finished fifth at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.

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"I probably felt less than the last one in the sense that going into Turin I was being hyped as the gold-medal favourite, certainly from a GB perspective.

"This one, Shelley (silver medallist in Turin four years ago) especially was being put under a lot of pressure.

"But the field's strong and it's a really strong track. I was sixth at this one, fifth at the last one and we had three Canadians to contend with."

British No 2 Adam Pengilly finished 18th in Whistler in a time of 3:34.51 while Ireland's Patrick Shannon was eliminated after the third heat and finished in 25th place.

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Rudman, meanwhile, never recovered from a dismal first run which placed her 11th, steadily improving her position to finish sixth after a final run of 53.82, easily her best time of the week.

The Turin silver medallist had started the second day of competition 0.96 off the pace after the first two runs, but broke 54 seconds for the first time as she recorded a time of 53.95.

However, in a reversal of roles, she was left firmly in the shadow of Great Britain team-mate Amy Williams as she dominated the women's event in Whistler to take gold ahead of two Germans, second-placed Katerina Szymkowiak, and Anja Huber, third.

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