The 23-year-old from West Kingsdown, Kent, headed an impressive team performance in Lake Placid as British competitors filled three of the top five places.

Shelley Rudman, this year's overall World Cup champion and the 2006 Olympic silver medallist, delivered yet another strong and consistent performance to finish fourth.

And Amy Williams, the2010 Olympic champion, who lost her place in the World Cup series midway through the season, showed her class at the venue where she took a silver medal in 2009, finishing in fifth place.

Katie Uhlaender (pictured) of the United States claimed the gold medal, with silver going to Canada's Melissa Hollingsworth.


Yarnold has had an outstanding run of success this season including winning two World Cup races and the World Junior World Championships.

"This feels phenomenal," she said.

"People have asked me if I expected it and I didn't expect anything except to perform at my best.

"I've never raced a four-run race before and this just feels so absolutely fantastic, I'm so pleased."

She added "My goal is to always perform at my best, it doesn't matter if I'm third, first or 15th,

"I would have been happy with my performance if I had four good runs, so I don't think this has anything to do with age or experience, you just have to put a goal out there to show everyone how good you can be."

The last British entry Rose McGrangle, who won this year's Inter-Continental Cup, finished 16th in her first World Championship after a good final run.

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