Great Britain Skeleton name squad for World Championships with one year to PyeongChang Winter Olympics
Olympic Champion Lizzy Yarnold and University of Bath student Dom Parsons are both in the six-strong Great Britain Skeleton squad for this month’s World Championships in Konigssee, Germany.
Laura Deas and Donna Creighton complete the women’s line-up, while Jerry Rice and Jack Thomas will make their Championships debuts in the men’s competition.
The announcement comes with exactly one year to go before the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in PyeongChang, South Korea.
Yarnold won gold on her last outing at the World Championships in 2015 before taking a break from racing for 12 months.
Parsons, who is studying a PhD in Mechanical Engineering at the University, will compete at his fourth successive World Championships and will be looking for another top-ten finish.
GB Skeleton Performance Advisor Andi Schmid said: “The World Championships are the showpiece event of the season and I’m delighted that we have qualified six sliders for this year’s competition.
“The World Championships and next month’s final World Cup event in PyeongChang have always been our primary focus this season and we are confident we can produce some good results in both events.
“We have a proud recent history at this event and we have every intention of ensuring that continues. We know that we face a tough challenge but we want to put down another good marker as we are now exactly a year away from the Winter Olympics.”
The International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation World Championships take place on February 17-26, with the skeleton action scheduled for Friday 24, Saturday 25 and Sunday 26. The women race on Friday and Saturday, with the men competing on Friday and Sunday.
The British Bobsleigh & Skeleton Association is based at the University of Bath, with its world-class athletes training in the EiS High-Performance Gym and on the UK’s only outdoor push-start track. Find out more about the programme with these UK Sport graphics produced for #WinterSportsWeek:
Carousel image credit: Charlie Booker.
