Just under a month ago TASS Athlete Lizzy Yarnold was celebrating her first ever World Cup Bob Skeleton race. Last week, she won her first ever World Cup race, and this week she has been crowned World Junior Champion.
Yarnold, from Kent, only took up the sport in 2008 and has had a superb transitional year which has seen her follow up her silver medal at the World Junior Championships in 2011 with gold this year.
The 23-year old who trains in Bath, landed the gold with a resounding half second victory over Russia’s Olga Potylitsina with an overall time of 1:49.50 seconds. Germany’s Jacqueline Lolling finished third.
Conditions were perfect for the sliders in Igls, with the sun beating down following a couple of days of snowy weather. Lizzy stepped up for the first run which saw her finish just in lead (seven hundredths) over Potylitsina.
Lizzy was the first to admit that her first run wasn’t the greatest and was looking to improve her start especially going into the second run.
The second run started well and although she made a few mistakes in the top section, coming out of the Kreisel turn (a 270-degree curve), Lizzy worked hard and extended her lead to forty seconds.
“It was a tough race with a very good field, but I am really, really happy to have won especially as my parents are here to watch.” Lizzy Yarnold, Bath Hub
Lizzy joins a strong contingent of British female skeleton athletes who have received TASS support including, Shelley Rudman (2005/6, TASS2012) and Amy Williams (2005/6, TASS2012), both of whom have achieved Olympic success in 2006 and 2010 respectively. Lizzy will be hoping to emulate their success come the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi.
“It’s been a great few weeks for British Skeleton and I am very proud of the success we’ve had and in particular Lizzy’s achievements here.” Nigel Laughton, British Skeleton Performance Director
Lizzy now travels out to North America where she will race in the final two World Cups of the season and compete in the World Championships at the end of February.
