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Lizzy Yarnold

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Elizabeth Anne Yarnold, OBE[4] (born 31 October 1988) is a British skeleton racer who joined the Great Britain national squad in 2010. With consecutive Olympic gold medals in 2014 and 2018, she is the most successful British Winter Olympian and the most successful Olympic Skeleton athlete of all time from any nation.[5] She won the 2013–14 Skeleton World Cup (only once finishing off the podium the whole season), followed by a gold in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.[6][7][8] Yarnold was selected to be one of the two women skeleton drivers representing Team GB at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang,[9] and went on to become the first person to defend an Olympic gold in skeleton and the first British athlete to defend a Winter Olympic title.[10] Yarnold set the track record for women's skeleton at the Olympic venue in the final heat of the race with a time of 51.46 seconds, beating Jacqueline Lölling's pre-Olympic record by nearly 1.3 seconds and her own first-heat record by 0.2 second.[11] Yarnold was also the flag bearer for Great Britain at the Pyeongchang opening ceremony.[12]

Elizabeth Anne Yarnold
OBE
Personal information
Full nameElizabeth Anne Yarnold
Nickname(s)Lizzy
She-ra[1]
The Yarnold
NationalityBritish
Born (1988-10-31) 31 October 1988 (age 35)
Sevenoaks, Kent, England[2]
Height1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)[1]
Weight70 kg (154 lb)[1]
Spouse
James Roche
​
(m. 2016)​
Sport
Country United Kingdom
SportSkeleton
Coached byEric Bernotas[3]
Medal record
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 2014 Sochi Women
Gold medal – first place 2018 Pyeongchang Women
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2015 Winterberg Women
Bronze medal – third place 2012 Lake Placid Women
Bronze medal – third place 2017 Königssee Women
World Cup
Gold medal – first place 2013–2014 Women
Silver medal – second place 2014–2015 Women
European Championships
Gold medal – first place 2015 Igls Women

Early life and education

 
Lizzy Yarnold, 2017, Lake Placid

Born in Sevenoaks, Kent, Yarnold was educated at St Michael's Preparatory School, an independent school in the village of Otford, Kent,[13] followed by Maidstone Grammar School for Girls in the Kent county town of Maidstone, where she became Head Girl.[14] After undertaking UCAS clearing post her A Levels, Yarnold chose to study geography and sport and exercise science at the University of Gloucestershire.[15][16]

Personal life

Since taking up the skeleton sled, Yarnold has lived in Bath, Somerset, initially in a flat owned by former skeleton athlete and Olympic gold medallist in the 2010 Winter Olympics, Amy Williams. In 2018 she tweeted that Portsmouth was home.[17]

On 1 May 2016, Yarnold married engineer James Roche, who co-designed Yarnold's sled while working for McLaren Applied Technologies.[18][19]

Introduction to skeleton

Yarnold was initially a heptathlete; she was inspired to take up the sport after watching Denise Lewis at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.[7]

In 2008, Yarnold took part in UK Sport's Girls4Gold talent search scheme.[20] Initially she thought she would be suitable for a sport involving horses but UK Sport identified skeleton as a good option.[20][21] She began competing in 2010, winning her first official race in the Europa Cup at Igls in November. The next day she had her second win.[1]

In subsequent seasons Yarnold honed her skeleton-racing skills, learned courses, and achieved the athletic performance required to compete at World Cup level. She finished the 2011/12 season in 9th position[22] and became junior World Champion and a bronze medallist in the senior World Championships in 2012.[1]

Her sled is named Mervyn after a former work colleague of hers, Mervyn Sugden.[22]

2013/14 season

From the first world cup practice run of the Olympic season it was apparent that Yarnold had found a new level of competitiveness, consistently topping timing sheets. She won the opening race in Calgary in controversial circumstances when US athlete Noelle Pikus-Pace was disqualified for a technical infringement. This set the scene for a season-long duel with Pikus-Pace. Yarnold eventually secured the World Cup Championship at the last race of the season in Königssee[22] and the Olympic gold medal at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, ahead of Pikus-Pace by 0.97 seconds.[7] The Olympic performance was remarkable as she had the fastest run of each of the four runs and set new track records on her first and third runs. Yarnold's gold was the tenth gold medal ever achieved by British athletes in 90 years of Winter Olympics competition. It also ensured that Great Britain had won a medal in the Women's Skeleton in every Winter Olympics since the event was introduced.

Yarnold was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2014 Birthday Honours for services to skeleton racing.[23]

2014/15 season

Following her success in the Olympics and World Cup, Yarnold completed a career grand slam in 2014/15 by becoming European Champion in February 2015 and World Champion the following month. She broke the track record at Winterberg twice in the course of her World Championship victory.[24] She finished as runner-up to Janine Flock in that season's World Cup standings, winning five World Cup races and being defeated by a narrow margin of 20 points after missing the Calgary round of the series for health reasons.[25]

In September 2015, Yarnold announced that she would take a year-long break and miss the 2015/16 skeleton season due to burnout.[26]

IBSF rankings

Yarnold has ranked on the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) rankings since the 2010–11 season.[27]

  • 2010–11 35th
  • 2011–12 9th
  • 2012–13 6th
  • 2013–14 1st
  • 2014–15 1st
  • 2015–16 -
  • 2016–17 7th

World Cup results

Overall standings

2011—12 2012—13 2013—14 2014—15
Races Points Position Races Points Position Races Points Position Races Points Position
4/8 714 19th 8/8 1546 4th 8/8 1672 1st 7/8 1511 2nd
2015—16 2016—17 2017—18
Races Points Position Races Points Position Races Points Position
Did not compete 7/8 1162 9th 8/8 1044 9th

Race victories (11)

No. Season Round Date Location Margin Runner-up
1 2011–12 6 20 January 2012   St. Moritz, Switzerland 0.25   Shelley Rudman
2 8 10 February 2012   Calgary, Canada 0.54   Anja Huber
3 2013–14 1 30 November 2013   Calgary, Canada 0.24   Elena Nikitina
4 4 15 December 2013   Lake Placid, USA 0.34   Janine Flock
5 5 4 January 2014   Winterberg, Germany 0.57   Noelle Pikus-Pace
6 7 18 January 2014   Igls, Austria 0.32   Noelle Pikus-Pace
7 2014–15 1 13 December 2014   Lake Placid, USA 0.77   Elisabeth Vathje
8 4 16 January 2015   Königssee, Germany 0.71   Anja Huber
9 6 7 February 2015   Igls, Austria 0.18   Elisabeth Vathje
10 7 8 February 2015   Igls, Austria 0.30   Janine Flock
11 8 14 February 2015   Sochi, Russia 0.04   Maria Orlova

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Lizzy Yarnold". www.britishskeleton.co.uk. Archived from the original on 14 February 2014. Retrieved 15 February 2014. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  2. ^ a b "Lizzy Yarnold". www.teamgb.com. Retrieved 10 February 2014.
  3. ^ Yarnold, Lizzy (15 January 2015). "Lizzy Yarnold column: I couldn't get going after dizzy spells". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 16 January 2015.
  4. ^ "OBE, Birthday list 2018". 9 June 2018. Retrieved 9 June 2018.
  5. ^ Sport, U. K. (17 February 2018). "GOLD for Lizzy Yarnold pic.twitter.com/3e4vSStWvC". @uk_sport. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  6. ^ "FIBT ranking - skeleton women - Yarnold, Elizabeth". FIBT. Retrieved 15 February 2014.
  7. ^ a b c Hope, Nick (14 February 2014). "Lizzy Yarnold wins Sochi 2014 gold for Great Britain". BBC Sport. Retrieved 14 February 2014.
  8. ^ "Lizzy Yarnold crowned European skeleton champion in Austria". bbc.co.uk. 8 February 2015. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
  9. ^ "Quartet earn Olympic Skeleton spots" (Press release). British Bobsleigh and Skeleton Association. 22 January 2018. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
  10. ^ "Winter Olympics: Lizzy Yarnold defends skeleton gold as Laura Deas takes bronze". BBC Sport. 17 February 2018. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  11. ^ Jorge GUERRERO; César GRANDE (17 February 2018). "Official results book, 2018 Olympic Winter Games (Skeleton)" (PDF). PyeongChang Organising Committee for the Olympic Games. p. 88. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  12. ^ Telegraph Sport (8 February 2018). "Lizzy Yarnold named Team GB flagbearer at Winter Olympics opening ceremony". Pyeongchang. The Telegraph. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  13. ^ St. Michael's Preparatory School - Lizzy Yarnold. Publisher: St. Michael's School, Otford, Kent. Retrieved: 14 March 2014.
  14. ^ Lizzy Yarnold wins Winter Olympics skeleton gold and urges fans to follow their dreams. Claire Carter. The Daily Telegraph. 14 February 2014. Retrieved: 14 March 2014.
  15. ^ "Olympic Gold Medallist gives advice on clearing".
  16. ^ Lizzy Yarnold - Great Britain Skeleton Athlete lizzyyarnold.com. Retrieved: 14 March 2014.
  17. ^ https://twitter.com/TheYarnold/status/956588154483601408
  18. ^ "Olympic champion Lizzy Yarnold set to marry sled designer James Roche". 11 May 2015.
  19. ^ Pyman, Tom. "West Kingsdown's Winter Olympic champion Lizzy Yarnold celebrates May Day wedding". Archived from the original on 4 May 2016. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  20. ^ a b "Lizzy's story - Spotlight on Girls4gold graduate Lizzy Yarnold". UK Sport. 13 February 2014.
  21. ^ "Golden girl Yarnold only took up skeleton five years ago". UK Eurosport. 14 February 2014. Retrieved 15 February 2014.
  22. ^ a b c "Sliding for gold: skeleton Athlete Lizzy Yarnold". www.channel4.com. 13 February 2014. Retrieved 14 February 2014.
  23. ^ "No. 60895". The London Gazette (Supplement). 14 June 2014. p. b26.
  24. ^ "Lizzy Yarnold wins world championship title to seal skeleton grand slam". theguardian.com. 7 March 2015. Retrieved 18 September 2015.
  25. ^ "Viessmann FIBT World Cup in Sochi: Janine Flock claims overall victory, Fifth win of the season for Lizzy Yarnold". International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation. 14 February 2015. Retrieved 18 September 2015.
  26. ^ Hope, Nick (17 September 2015). "Lizzy Yarnold: Olympic skeleton champion taking year-long break". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 18 September 2015.
  27. ^ "Skeleton Women FIBT ranking". www.fibt.com. Archived from the original on 14 February 2014. Retrieved 15 February 2014. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
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