OLYMPICS: The skeleton is an assault on the mind as much as the body but Ireland's Dave Connolly was as composed as ever after sliding to a personal best on an unforgiving night deep in the Alps.

The Irishman's time of 59.97 in the first run down the twisting Cesana Pariol course was his best ever and secured him a top-20 finish. The race was won by the Canadian Duff Gibson, a former speed skater who has been sliding skeleton for six years.

"It's a pretty tricky course. There were just a couple of bends early on that I couldn't quite nail, even on the second run. And they hadn't bothered me in training, so that was frustrating," Connolly said, waving at the few Irish tricolours he could see through the snow.

"But that comes with experience. But it is my best time so I have to be happy with that. It was a good run overall and it is great to see some people around. I think it shows that the sport is growing."

Cesana Pariol was about as far removed from Connolly's home place in Wicklow as was imaginable. A driving blanket of snow fell across the Alps all through yesterday, causing a delay to a number of Olympic events.

The evening start to the skeleton and the remoteness of the location meant the gallery was less than would have been anticipated in one of the most extreme and potentially dangerous of winter sports.

Skeleton has a mixed Olympic pedigree. It featured in the 1928 and 1948 games in St Moritz in honour of its place of origin but was dropped from the programme after that, only returning four years ago in Salt Lake City. And even this year in Turin, there is a degree of antipathy toward the event, a belief that it compares unfavourably with the more established examples of controlled sliding chaos - bobsleigh and luge.

As Jim Shea, the gold medallist in Salt Lake, noted, "Bobsled is the champagne of thrills and skeleton is the moonshine of thrills."

Still, the effect is just the same and a guy being borne down the hard, ice-coated funnel at crazy speeds is an impressive sight.

It was a pity weather dominated the day. The Alps had been enveloped in gloomy twilight and it was already minus-three Celsius when the sliders prepared for the medal run at seven o'clock last night. The Irishman was not in the reckoning for a podium place and so was concentrating on breaking into the top tier of skeleton sliders.

Connolly was just edged out of the top 20 in the first run. Although his start time of 4.98 seconds was not as fast as he had anticipated, he gathered enough momentum on the middle chicanes to jump some six places.

When he finished his run on a time of 59.97, he was ranked 19th, but strong performances by Germany's Frank Rommel and local hero Maurizio Oioli left Connolly just a lone place outside the top 20.

However, he moved up one place after the medal run. Showing absolute concentration at the starting point, he took off with the exhortations of Lord Clifton Wrottesley ringing in his ears. After that, the only sound was of his sled tearing over the ice as he posted a top speed of 74.4 miles per hour.

A hardy band of Irish fans were waiting for him in the grandstand when he finished.

"Yeah, some friends and family made the trip out here, which is great. It makes a change having company at the bottom of the run," he said.

Connolly couldn't decide whether he wanted Britain's Kristan Bromley or Adam Pengilly to win a medal, having trained with both men for these Olympics.

"As long as one of them makes it up there, I'll be happy," he said.

But neither did, with Bromley getting bumped from the medal placing in the last two runs.

Meanwhile, Rory Morrish, the Irish cross-country alpine skier, completed his 15-kilometre race in a time of 50 minutes and 28 seconds yesterday morning. The race took place in poor conditions and was won by Andrus Veerpalu of Estonia in a time of 38:01.

Kirsty McGarry is unlikely to compete in tomorrow's Super G race. Heavy snow and wind have made the course a much tougher proposition.

"Because Kirsty's best events are in slalom, it would probably be best for her to conserve her energy for those," said her mother, alpine coach Jane McGarry.

They will decide this morning.