Yarnold Says Gold Medal Is A "Dream Come True"

Lizzy Yarnold admitted it was a "dream come true" after soaring to skeleton gold in Sochi with a winning margin of almost a second over nearest rival Noelle Pikus-Pace.

The Kent 25-year-old hurtled to a new track record on her third run on Friday to effectively seal victory with one run to spare and become Great Britain's fourth consecutive Olympic skeleton medallist.

"It is unexplainable," said Yarnold after winning GB's first gold of the Winter Games.

"I am sure it won't sink in for another few days. I have worked so hard to get into this position and I am just so proud that my dreams have come true.

"I would have been proud medalling and now I have got the gold it is unexplainable. I always have high expectations of myself.

"I always secretly intended to come to Sochi. That was always my dream and my goal but to win the whole race is far beyond my expectations."

Her winning margin of 0.97 left Pikus-Pace and third-placed Russian Elena Nikitina trailing and Great Britain skeleton head coach Andy Schmidt said Yarnold's passion had plenty of influence on her success.

Schmidt said: "Lizzy is so focused and she's so passionate. She has an incredible talent and what comes together is her physical and mental strengths.

"It's just an incredilble feeling. Four years after Amy (Williams), and now this - another name on gold. This is just a great achievement for British Skeleton, a great achievement for the individual athletes."

Yarnold's victory was the culmination of a journey which started five years ago when she was first introduced to skeleton after applying to a Girls4Gold talent search.

"It started such a long time ago. I was an athlete at the age of 13 with my parents driving me around the country every night for training. I wouldn't have got here without them.

"But it is people like the whole team of British Skeleton, National Lottery funding and UK Sport. All of those people make a load difference to us athletes.

"I have no idea what will happen in the future. I love training, I am a dedicated athlete and I am an athlete through and through, that is all I know."

Pikus-Pace, Yarnold's biggest threat with whom she shared the eight World Cup wins this season, revealed the reason she had not taken part in the final two days of official training was due to an accident on the track on Wednesday which left her with concussion.

"On Wednesday I got concussion and on Friday I was getting an MRI scan," said Pikus-Pace.

"I couldn't see clearly and my vision was blurred so for medical reasons I couldn't take those runs, as much as I really wanted to. But I felt very good down the track today and I felt like I gave it my best."

Yarnold's Great Britain team-mate Shelley Rudman finished in a disappointing 16th position in what will almost certainly be her last Olympic race, a full 3.58 seconds behind her team-mate.

Rudman, who embraced Yarnold after her victory, said: "I'm happy I stuck with it. I can look at my career and say it's great. Now we will go on a family holiday and relax a bit and set new goals."