Brad Hall’s hopes of pushing for a medal in the two-man bobsleigh are effectively over after a poor start to the first night of competition at Yanqing Sliding Centre.

Hall and brake-man Nick Gleeson had looked in good shape to challenge for a place on the podium after overcoming funding concerns to claim three top-three finishes during the World Cup season.

And an impressive series of practice runs on the Beijing track – including notching the second fastest time in the penultimate session on Saturday – did nothing to dispel realistic hopes that a medal challenge was on the cards.

But Hall was only 11th fastest in his first run, 0.67 seconds behind Germany’s all-conquering reigning champion Francesco Friedrich, and the gap had extended to 1.36 seconds after his second, with the final two runs of the competition scheduled for Tuesday night.

Hall expressed his disappointment after the performances that also left the GB sled trailing the likes of Latvia and Monaco.

“It hasn’t been the best day,” said Hall. “We’ve had a couple of runs, a couple of mistakes on both runs and that’s unfortunate.

“We’re hoping to go back and correct our mistakes tomorrow and hopefully climb a few spots.”