Shelley Rudman took gold for Britain in the world skeleton championship
Britain's Shelley Rudman blitzed her rivals to become world skeleton champion in St Moritz.
Last Updated: 01/02/13 2:01pm
The 2006 Olympic silver medallist took a one-second advantage into Friday's final two runs and held off America's Noelle Pikus-Pace by 0.57secs, with Canada's Sarah Reid pipping Great Britain's Lizzy Yarnold to bronze.
It means Rudman becomes the first British woman to win a sliding world title and the first Briton since her partner Kristian Bromley won the men's title in 2008.
"I'm so happy because this was the one medal in my sport I hadn't won," she said. "I always set goals and the world title was always my number one priority this year.
"I had quite a good cushion going into my final two runs but I am experienced enough to know it was nowhere near over. I spent all last night knowing just one mistake could put me out of the medals."
Rudman and Yarnold will now prepare to head to Sochi where they will get their first taste of next year's Winter Olympic track at the final World Cup race of the regular season in a fortnight's time.
"I've built up quite a range of experiences in the Olympics so hopefully I can bring that into play," she added. "I can't wait to go to Sochi and start to get to know the track ahead of next year's Games."
