Lizzy Yarnold

Elizabeth Yarnold
OBE
Personal information
Full nameElizabeth Anne Yarnold
Nickname(s)Lizzy, She-ra,[1] The Yarnold, OC[2]
NationalityBritish
Born (1988-10-31) 31 October 1988 (age 36)
Sevenoaks, Kent, England[3]
Height5 ft 8 in (173 cm)[1]
Weight11 st 0 lb; 154 lb (70 kg)[1]
Spouse
James Roche
​
(m. 2016)​
Sport
Country Great Britain
SportSkeleton
Coached byEric Bernotas[4]
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

Elizabeth Anne Yarnold, OBE[5] (born 31 October 1988) is a British former 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.[6] 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.[7][8][9] Yarnold was selected to be one of the two women skeleton drivers representing Team GB at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang,[10] 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.[11] 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.[12] Yarnold was also the flag bearer for Great Britain at the Pyeongchang opening ceremony.[13]

  1. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference bskeleton was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference retire was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "Lizzy Yarnold". www.teamgb.com. Retrieved 10 February 2014.
  4. ^ Yarnold, Lizzy (15 January 2015). "Lizzy Yarnold column: I couldn't get going after dizzy spells". BBC Sport. Retrieved 16 January 2015.
  5. ^ "OBE, Birthday list 2018". BBC News. 9 June 2018. Retrieved 9 June 2018.
  6. ^ UK Sport (17 February 2018). "GOLD for Lizzy Yarnold pic.twitter.com/3e4vSStWvC". Twitter. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference fibt_2014_results was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference bbc_sochi_gold was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ "Lizzy Yarnold crowned European skeleton champion in Austria". BBC Sport. 8 February 2015. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
  10. ^ "Quartet earn Olympic Skeleton spots" (Press release). British Bobsleigh and Skeleton Association. 22 January 2018. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
  11. ^ "Winter Olympics: Lizzy Yarnold defends skeleton gold as Laura Deas takes bronze". BBC Sport. 17 February 2018. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  12. ^ Guerrero, Jorge; Grande, César (17 February 2018). "Official results book, 2018 Olympic Winter Games (Skeleton)" (PDF). PyeongChang Organising Committee for the Olympic Games. p. 88. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 February 2018. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  13. ^ Telegraph Sport (8 February 2018). "Lizzy Yarnold named Team GB flagbearer at Winter Olympics opening ceremony". The Telegraph. London. Retrieved 8 February 2018.