Double Winter Olympic champion Lizzy Yarnold to retire

Britain's most successful Winter Olympian, skeleton racer Lizzy Yarnold, is to retire from the sport.

The 29-year-old is the only Briton to ever defend a Winter Olympic title, and the only skeleton athlete to win back-to-back Olympic golds.

Yarnold first became Olympic champion in Sochi in 2014, where her winning margin of 0.97 seconds was the largest in the event's history.

She then defended her crown in Pyeongchang earlier this year, where she was also the British flag bearer at the opening ceremony.

Yarnold also won the World and European titles in 2015, and was awarded an OBE in 2014 following her first Olympic triumph.

However, she has not been seen in competitive action since winning gold in South Korea in February, and underwent surgery in the summer in an attempt to fix a long-standing back problem.