Lizzy Yarnold has never given up hope of becoming the first British athlete to retain a Winter Olympic title despite a testing campaign on and off the ice.
Yarnold placed outside the top 10 in half of this season’s Skeleton World Cup races and has continued to be plagued by a sporadic vestibular problem on some of the fastest tracks.
But the 29-year-old returned to form with a fourth place finish in Konigssee in Germany on Friday, prior to being confirmed in the four-strong GB skeleton squad for February’s Pyeongchang Games.
#Proud to be selected for @TeamGB for my 2nd Olympics. I will do my best to bring back my title from #PyeongChang2018 https://t.co/Jfd4QiR23A
— Lizzy Yarnold (@TheYarnold) January 22, 2018
Yarnold said: “It has certainly been a big reminder that sport is a challenge and anything can happen on a given day, but I made myself remember what I was good at and why I love the sport.
“If you’d asked me at the start of the season I’d have wanted better results, but I didn’t get disheartened even when I was finishing 23rd at Whistler sliding down the ice on my arm.
“It’s about remembering how to be good on the day in Pyeongchang, how to learn the track quickly and make sure everything is on point for the one race that counts.”
And joining Laura in the women’s event will be defending Olympic Champion @TheYarnold!
There’s not much Lizzy hasn’t won in the sport over the last four years. Can she win another Olympic medal? ?#WeAreTheGreat pic.twitter.com/6wysXK2dFD
— Team GB (@TeamGB) January 22, 2018
Yarnold will be joined in Pyeongchang by Laura Deas, a former World Cup winner who eclipsed her team-mate by placing seventh in the overall Cup standings.
Like Deas, Dominic Parsons will return for his second Olympics alongside debutant Jerry Rice.
British athletes have won skeleton medals at every Winter Olympics since Alex Coomber clinched bronze on the sport’s return to the Games in Salt Lake City in 2002.
