Girls4Gold graduate Lizzy Yarnold continued her rapid rise to success today (24 February) and confirmed her place among Skeleton’s elite when she claimed the bronze medal at the FIBT Bobsleigh and Skeleton World Championships in Lake Placid.
Yarnold, who finished ahead of teammates Shelley Rudman and Amy Williams in fourth and fifth, and behind eventual world champion Katie Uhlaender of the USA and silver medallist Mellisa Hollingsworth of Canada, has gone from strength to strength after bursting onto the international World Cup scene earlier this year with two victories, shortly before being crowned Junior World Champion.
Having never tried Skeleton before she applied for the UK Sport and EIS Talent ID campaign, Girls4Gold, in 2008, Yarnold has enjoyed incredible success in 2012, winning two of the three rounds she entered in the 2011-12 Skeleton World Cup and being crowned Junior World Champion just three weeks ago.
UK Sport’s Head of Athlete Development, Chelsea Warr said: “It is fantastic to see Lizzy performing so well on the international stage and to win a medal at her first senior World Championships is an outstanding achievement.
“Working in close partnership with sports we have now established a track record of success and since 2007, our campaigns have produced 86 international medals at junior, U23 and senior level, including 15 at World Championships. All of these athletes were oblivious to the natural talent they possessed. We simply offered them an opportunity to see how good they could be in a sport they’d never tried.”
Fellow Girls4Gold graduate, Rose McGrandle, finished in 16th place.
Launched in 2008, Girls4Gold sought highly competitive sportswomen with the potential to become Olympic champions and was the single most extensive female sporting talent recruitment drive ever undertaken in Great Britain.