ICE cool Isle of Wight athlete Kim Murray made her skeleton racing World Cup debut on Sunday — just where she always wanted to be, competing with the best in the business.

In the Latvian resort of Sigulda, the 30-year-old Islander came 13th place after her two runs — earning a combined 1min 47.34secs time total.

Isle of Wight County Press:

Kim Murray, full steam ahead in World Cup skeleton training in Sigulda, Latvia, last weekend. 

Kim, who was selected to join the Great Britain skeleton team last month and earned silver and gold medals in the Europe Cup, was only three-hundredths of a second away from a top ten finish, in a competition in which she had raced against the sport’s elite.

She gained 120 points from her first World cup event of the season, but knows there is still much work to be done to break into the top ten, with such fine margins on the ice.

Isle of Wight County Press:

Kim Murray in recent Europe Cup action in innsbruck, Austria.

“Sigulda wasn’t the easiest track to make my World Cup debut on — but I did it,” said Kim.

“I’m very happy with my performance, up against a strong field, many of which had been ranked in the top ten in the world last year, which included the Olympic silver medalist.

“I had two consistent runs — key in a race where there were several crashes.

Isle of Wight County Press:

Kim Murray will be working hard to gain more medals and trophies after stepping up to the highest level of skeleton racing. 

“Above all, I feel like I did myself justice and I am looking forward to racing again in Winterberg, Germany, before the Christmas break.”

After Winterberg this weekend, Kim has six more events coming up, starting with two more in Germany — Altenberg on January 4 and Konigssee, January 11.

Then it’s off to Innsbruck in Austria (January 18), St Moritz (January 25), and on to North America — Lake Placid, United States (February 15) and finally, Calgary, Canada (February 23).

Kim’s race in Winterberg is being streamed live on YouTube at 12.30pm on Friday.