Smithtown's Daly in 17th place after third heat of skeleton

Smithtown's John Daly, competing in his first Olympics, finished 17th in the men's skeleton Friday night.

Canadian Jon Montgomery overtook reigning world champion Martins Dukurs of Latvia in the fourth and final heat to take the gold with a total time of 3:29.73. Dukurs, who led through three heats, took silver with a time of 3:29.80. Alexander Tretyakova won the bronze.

Daly's total time was 3:34.01. The 24-year-old began the night in 18th position after his first two heats Thursday. He moved up to 17th after the third heat and made his best run of the competition in the fourth heat with a time of :53.05, slightly more than a second faster than his first heat time of :54:08.

"There was a lot of hype and nervousness and it was nice to get it out of the way," Daly said in remarks released by the U.S. Skeleton & Bobsled Federation following Thursday night's heats. "It's definitely something to get used to. This is awesome. It's the Olympics and I'm here and I'm happy."

Zach Lund was the highest finishing American in fifth place with a total time of 3:31.27. The third American, Eric Bernotas, finished 14th in 3:33.27.

British woman winsAmy Williams won the gold medal in women's skeleton, becoming Britain's first individual Winter Olympic champion since figure skater Robin Cousins 30 years ago.

Williams finished four runs in 3 minutes, 35.64 seconds. Germany's Kerstin Szymkowiak won the silver, and another German, Anja Huber, won the bronze.- AP