Hope for a medal for Brazil at the Winter Olympics, skeleton Nicole Silveira from Rio Grande do Sul made her debut this morning (11). The 27-year-old from Rio Grande do Sul ranked 14th in the first two qualifiers and returns to the ice rink this Saturday (12), at 9:20 am (Brasília time) for the third and decisive test, which qualifies for the final dispute for medals, which will occur next. The athletes with the 20 best times will fight for the podium at the National Track Sports Center in Yanqing (China). 
DID SOMEONE WRITE DOWN THE PLATE? ?
Nicole Silveira flew ? in the 2nd heat: 01:02:95.
Gueeenta ?? that’s just the beginning. Day 12 has more!
? Wander Roberto / @ANOC_olympic pic.twitter.com/jbTPzdiO5U
— Team Brazil (@timebrasil) February 11, 2022
“With the performance, I can be happy. The corners that I was focusing on in training, I managed to get it right. The places I messed up weren’t the ones I was wasting too much time on. There were two corners that made me lose speed. If you look at the intervals, I was doing well, even getting ahead of some athletes who finished in positions above me. So, it’s time to review the videos to improve tomorrow”, analyzed Nicole, the first representative of Brazil in the modality in the Winter Games.
In the first descents this Friday (11), Australian Jaclyn Narracott had the best time (2min04s34), followed by Germans HAnnah Neise (2min04s55) and Tina Hermann (2min04s57). In her debut, in the first qualifier, Nicole had the 12th best time (1min02s58) in the heat, and then placed 13th (1min02s95) among 25 participants. But the slider (skeleton competitor) from Rio Grande do Sul can lower her time even further: in the last official training session she managed to complete the descent in 1min02s29,
Dubbed as “the ice braba” on social networks last November, when she won the America’s Cup, in Canada, the woman from Rio Grande do Sul was surprised by the support of the crowd in her debut. Although she was born in Brazil, Nicole has lived in Canada since childhood.
“I was going to sleep and Brazil was awake, but I stopped to look at the messages and thought it was surreal. Very happy to have fans from all over Brazil. I had to mute the cell phone so I could focus only on getting down on the track. Sometimes it’s hard to believe that everyone is rooting for me. Each message motivates me more and gives me an impulse to do my best”, revealed the athlete in a statement to the Brazilian Olympic Committee (COB).
Nicole Silveira’s first day of competition at the Olympic Games. We’ll never forget! ?#GoNicole
? Alexandre Castello Branco/COB pic.twitter.com/Yus9OtXTzi
— CBDG (@CBDGbr) February 11, 2022
