Yarnold happy with progress on Pyeongchang track despite missing medal

BySportsbeat

Updated 26/10/2017 at 07:19 GMT

Olympic champion Lizzy Yarnold admitted she had learned some valuable lessons ahead of defending her title next year – despite finishing the season finale in Pyeongchang off the podium.

Lizzy Yarnold celebrates her Skeleton gold medal at Sochi (Reuters)

Image credit: Reuters

The British skeleton athlete and her rivals got a useful taste of what is to come at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games when they contested the final World Cup in South Korea on Friday.

For Yarnold the result was a fourth-place finish, just four hundredths of a second from third and nine hundredths from silver.

She did, however, produce the second quickest time in run two, suggesting she is getting to grips with the track.

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This season marked Yarnold's comeback after a year out and, while just one World Cup podium place was forthcoming with silver in Lake Placid, the 28-year-old did win bronze at the World Championships.

And she believes everything is heading in the right direction, despite missing out on a season-ending podium finish.

"I was so close to a medal which would have completed the season perfectly! But fourth is a position that keeps you hungry so I'll take the positives from that," said Yarnold.

"The track is challenging and I've had some hard days over the past few weeks trying lines that didn't work - there's been a lot of trial and error.

"I feel like I've worked out a few of the quirks of the track from this first trip so will come back in October (for the next international training week) to build on the progress made and discover more, I'm sure.

"Now that the season is coming to an end, I just want to thank the whole team for their unending commitment to performance.

"Since our selection race in October we've become more like family than ever which makes us all stronger and, ultimately, perform better. We are all now focussed on the race which really counts in 335 days' time!"

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