Rudman and Williams take European gold and bronze
University of Bath sporting alumnus, Shelley Rudman, pipped her team-mate and great rival Amy Williams, the Olympic champion, to European gold in Winterberg today during the sixth Skeleton World Cup there which doubles as the European Championships.
The world cup win was Rudman’s first of the season after four previous runners-up slots and put her in pole position on the international rankings. The now Sheffield-based but former Wiltshire athlete, who was talent spotted into the sport from an athletics group in Bath, has put together a great series of races to date with six world cups completed and two more to go.
In the same race, GB’s recently returned Olympic champion, Williams, from Bath and also a former student at the University, was fifth overall but was third European giving her European Championships bronze and valuable ranking points towards qualification for this year’s world championships.
The third British slider in action was Yeovil’s Donna Creighton who trains with the University of Bath-based bob-skeleton programme and again scored a top-ten result with ninth place in the world cup and sixth in the European Championships.
GB Head Coach Micky Gruenberger said of Rudman, the 2006 Olympic silver medallist: “Today Shelley was unbeatable. Her start continues to improve and her driving was excellent”.
“Amy had some disadvantage due to a snow shower just prior to her run but recorded the highest speed on the second run of the whole field”, he said of the Olympian who only returned to the circuit at the last world cup.
“Donna again achieved a consistent performance in her first year on the world cup circuit”, he said.
Tomorrow afternoon sees the men’s world cup and European Championships at the same venue. Chris Type of Wales, Andy Wood from Bath and Sheffield’s Kristan Bromley all look set to compete.
Results from round 6 of Skeleton World Cup – Winterberg
Gold: Shelley Rudman (GBR) – 1:57.77
Silver: Anja Huber (GER) – 1:58.99
Bronze: Amy Gough (CAN) – 1:58.52
5tth: Amy Williams (GBR) – 1:58.80
9th: Donna Creighton (GBR) – 1:59.15
British Skeleton Notes for Editors
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