Double Olympic Champion Lizzy Yarnold OBE cemented her place in sporting history not once, but twice.
Lizzy sensationally won her second Olympic Gold at the PyeongChang 2018 Games, adding to the Gold she won in Sochi in 2014, becoming the first Team GB winter athlete to retain their Olympic title.
Team GB’s most decorated Winter Olympian was also the first British athlete and the second person ever to claim the Grand Slam of skeleton titles when she won every major title in her sport in just 407 days back in 2014/15.
About Lizzy
Lizzy Yarnold OBE cemented her place in sporting history after winning every major title in her sport of skeleton in just 407 days. Lizzy won the World Championship gold medal at the 2015 event in Winterberg, Germany (with two track records) to add to her Grand Slam collection of the Olympic and European titles and the overall World Cup title in the 2013/2014.
Lizzy is the second athlete ever and the first British slider to hold the Grand Slam titles at the same time when she was the Olympic, World and European Champion. Lizzy won the Olympic Skeleton event at the Sochi Winter Olympics on 14th February 2014. Lizzy won having led the field in every training run leading up to the Games and over the entire 4 race event – her winning margin of 0.97 seconds was the largest ever.
Having dominated the skeleton world for several seasons, in 2015 Lizzy decided to take a season-long break from competition in order to re-focus ahead of the next Olympic campaign.
After returning to the sport in 2016 as the defending Olympic Champion, Lizzy struggled to get back into her winning groove. Following a late return to form with just a few races to go until the Winter Olympics, Lizzy was then challenged with a serious chest infection and ongoing vestibular issues whilst competing in the Olympic Skeleton event.
From leading the race to then dropping to 9th place, Lizzy battled her way through the final few runs making every 100th of a second count. With all 4 runs completed (including two track records), she brought home the gold medal, winning the Olympic Skeleton event once again at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics on 17th February 2018. Lizzy cemented herself in the history books once again becoming the first British Winter Olympian to retain their title.
Lizzy was runner up in 2014 and third in 2015 at the Sky & Sunday Times Sportswoman of the Year awards and was nominated for the 2018 and 2014 BBC Sports Personality. Lizzy was picked to take part in skeleton after entering a talent ID programme called ‘Girls for Gold’ in 2008. As a part of the 7-month programme Lizzy was tested both physically and psychologically, leading to a successful selection onto the talent squad, which is where the hard work really began. Her rise to Olympic Champion in just 5 years shows her focus and determination, her coaches commentating that her mental toughness is indeed unique.
Lizzy was awarded an MBE for Services to Sport in June 2014 and was subsequently awarded an OBE in 2018. Lizzy, who is in her thirties, grew up in West Kingsdown in Kent and currently lives near Winchester.
Performance Coaching
&
Mentoring
Coaching and mentoring are
wonderful opportunities to talk openly
and start to think in a new way.
Throughout my career in high performance sport, I thrived on understanding every piece of the puzzle that made up my performance. I had an intense passion for talking, analysing and improving each aspect of what I did – my equipment, clothing, nutrition, my physical conditioning, race tactics, I studied each and every turn and cadence of the tracks we slid on – the list goes on. I also loved to understand the psychological side of our sport, being an elite athlete in itself takes a certain mental resilience, as does travelling head first down an ice track reaching speeds of over 90 mph!
And of course the team around me – my fellow competitors, teammates, my technical coaches, my physical conditioning coaches, our equipment engineers, our support staff, my friends and family – those individuals made everything work on the track, because of the effort outside of race day.
So I had to learn how to manage all of those individuals, we had to be a team, roles and responsibilities needed to be clear, motivations, goal setting, dealing with conflict, if the team didn’t work, I didn’t slide well.
So when I finished competing I wanted to use the passion I had for performance and how the skills and tools I learnt can help individuals and teams in their working lives.
At Lizzy Yarnold Performance Coaching I work with individuals 1:1 and with teams.
Sessions are change focussed, working with the client on their career goals, ideas or challenges, whilst always championing the individual and their own resourcefulness.
For individuals in business
For individuals in sport
For teams within business & sport
“Lizzy will push you to realise positive things about yourself that you have never appreciated before, in a way that empowers you to improve things in your life, in a kind and non-judgemental way.”
Louise Jones, Doctor
From rising up the ranks within 5 years to jump onto the top of the Olympic podium (where success lead to success), to then grip onto a Team GB selection for her second Winter Olympics when race wins were a hard fought battle, Lizzy has lived many ‘best versions of herself’. During her sensational wins at the 2014 and 2018 Winter Olympics, Lizzy captured the hearts and imagination of the British Public. People warmed to the humble young woman from Kent who never gave up on her dreams and with a frightening determination, reached the pinnacle of world sport.
Comfortable delivering a motivational speech, taking part in a Q&A session or working and interacting with groups or individuals, Lizzy is adept at tailoring her message to suit different audiences.
Using her experiences from the world of elite sport and having studied ‘Mental Toughness’ at University, Lizzy can deliver sessions that will resonate with your business.
Topics Include
Personal resilience
Goal setting & being goal driven
Mental toughness
Self-awareness
Identifying & retaining talent
Teamship & Collaboration
Leadership
Adapting to change
Innovation
Controlling your environment
Lizzy enjoys nothing more than visiting schools
and sharing her story.
