American Pikus-Pace 2nd after first two skeleton runs
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Rzhanaya Polyana, Russia (SportsNetwork.com) - Great Britain's Elizabeth Yarnold leads the women's skeleton singles following the first two runs Thursday at the Sochi Olympics, while Americans Noelle Pikus-Pace and Katie Uhlaender are close behind.
Yarnold set a track record at the Sanki Sliding Center with a time of 58.43 seconds in her first run and was just .03 seconds behind that pace to also post the best split in Heat 2. She has a total time of 1 minute, 56.89 seconds heading into Friday's final two runs.
Pikus-Pace, the silver medalist at the 2013 World Championships, is .44 seconds behind Yarnold in second place. The 31-year-old American barely missed out on an Olympic medal four years ago in Vancouver, finishing fourth in this event.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Elena Nikitina of Russia is .55 seconds behind Yarnold in third position and Uhlaender is trailing the leader by .69 seconds.
"That would be a dream come true if Katie and I could both be up on that podium together, to have two U.S. flags flying and waving in the wind," Pikus- Pace said. "That would be absolutely incredible."
Uhlaender finished sixth at the 2006 Turin Games and was 11th four years ago in Vancouver.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Canada's Sarah Reid is currently eighth and trails Yarnold by 1.42 seconds.