British athlete’s secured five World Championship medals this season, along with ten athlete quota places for Team GB at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games.
GB’s first medal was secured by Turin 2006 Olympic silver medallist Shelley Rudman who became Britain’s first ever female World Champion in skeleton when she won the World Championships in February in St.Moritz. It was a great Championship for the women’s squad with Rudman’s team mate Lizzy Yarnold finishing in 4th place, matching her current world ranking.
Skip Eve Muirhead and her team ended an 11-year wait for a Scottish women's curling World Champion with an ice-cool performance in Riga in March - becoming Great Britain's second winter sports world gold medallist this season. Muirhead, Anna Sloan, Vicki Adams and Claire Hamilton had lost their only two games in Lativa to Margaretha Sigfridsson's Sweden - but they made it third time lucky with a 6-5 win when it mattered most in the final. The victory booked Team GB’s first five quota places at next year's Winter Olympics in Sochi, where they'll be joined by hosts Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Canada, USA, Denmark and Korea.
Freestyle skier James Woods claimed World Championship silver in Norway in March, Britain’s first medal at the event for 20 years, and was later crowned World Cup Champion after the fourth and final round in Sierra Nevada.
Elise Christie became the first British woman to win an individual World Short Track Speed Skating Championship medal in Debrecen, with her third place in the 1000m final. But it's a measure of her season, which saw her crowned overall World Cup Champion over the same distance.
In April, Team GB secured a further five athlete quota places for the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games courtesy of a bronze medal win at the World Championships by the Scottish men’s curling team. The Scottish team, skipped by two time Olympian David Murdoch, have now medalled in six consecutive World Championships.
Elsewhere, a fourth place from slopestyle skier Katie Summerhayes and fifth place from four-man bobsleigh driver John Jackson, at their respective world events, tops off a fantastic winter season leaving next year looking promising for Team GB.