80mph, head first, face down - few would be brave enough to even get on a skeleton bobsled.
Lizzy Yarnold didn't just do that, she became the best in the world at it.
World Championship and European Championship golds sandwiched between two Winter Olympics triumphs between 2014 and 2018 make that point indisputable.
Yarnold became the first British athlete and the first skeleton competitor to win two Winter Olympics gold medals with victory at Sochi 2014 and Pyeongchang 2018, the second of which came amidst a plethora of health issues such as back pain and a chest infection which left her struggling to breathe and speak.
She remains Team GB's most successful Winter Olympian, despite retiring after her 2018 success.
Background
Born in Sevenoaks, Kent in 1988, Yarnold initially trained as a heptathlete, taking inspiration from Denise Lewis, who she named as her sporting idol in a 2015 interview.
At one point she was ranked as high as 54th in the national shot put ranking, but turned to skeleton when UK Sport's 'Girls4Gold' scheme identified her as a potential competitor in the discipline.
Her career in the sport began in October 2010, claiming two wins the following month in the Europa Cup before a runner-up finish in the World Junior Championships.
Medal Record
Lizzy Yarnold boasts four gold medals across all of the major skeleton competitions, holding the Grand Slam of Olympic, World and European simultaneously for more than four years.
She also has two World Championship bronze medals to her name, alongside Skeleton World Cup gold and silver in 2013/14 and 2014/15 respectively.
Winter Olympic Record | 2 x Gold (2014 & 2018) |
World Championship Record | Gold (2015) |
European Championship Record | Gold (2015) |
Skeleton World Cup Record | Gold (2013/14) |
Winter Olympic Record
Sochi 2014
At the 2014 games, Yarnold won gold by 0.97 seconds, the largest winning margin in Winter Olympic skeleton history,.
She set the fastest time on all four runs in the competition, including track records on her first and third run.
The success saw her chosen as Team GB's flag bearer at the closing ceremony and nominated for the 2014 Sports Personality of the Year award.
Pyeongchang 2018
Heading into the 2018 games, Lizzy Yarnold had a variety of health issues.
Vestibular disorder, which affects the inner ear, was cited as the reason for the dizzy spells she had suffered throughout her career and it flared up on the opening day of the competiton.
Whilst battling a knee tumour that was discovered six months prior, and a debilitating chest infection that left her struggling to breathe, Yarnold battled on to take gold once again.
Once again she set two track records, including one on her final run to win by 0.45 seconds.
