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Lizzy Yarnold has been named as the Great Britain flag bearer for the opening ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang on Friday.
The 29-year-old goes into the Games as the defending women's skeleton champion having clinched gold in Sochi four years ago.
Yarnold becomes the second skeleton athlete to carry the flag at a Winter Olympics opening ceremony, after Shelley Rudman who led Britain out in Vancouver in 2010.
Show all 9 1 /9Winter Olympics 2018: 9 British medal hopefuls to watch Winter Olympics 2018: 9 British medal hopefuls to watch Lizzy Yarnold Lizzy Yarnold won Team GB’s first gold medal of the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games after dominating the women's skeleton from start to finish. She hs recently take some time away from the sport before returning with the aim of defending her title at PyeongChang 2018.
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Winter Olympics 2018: 9 British medal hopefuls to watch Jenny Jones Jenny Jones set Britain alight with slopestyle fever when she produced a spectacular display at Sochi 2014 to take Olympic bronze. having spent a winter in Tignes as a chalet maid, she took up snowboarding, quickly winning everything she entered, included three Winter X Games golds between 2009 and 2010.
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Winter Olympics 2018: 9 British medal hopefuls to watch Jamie Nicholls Jamie Nicholls became the first British male snowboarder to win a World Cup event in 2016. The Bradford-born athlete took up the sport aged seven at Halifax Ski and Snowboard centre, but by the age of 13 he was already considered one of the best UK snowboarders. At the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, Nicholls finished sixth overall.
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Winter Olympics 2018: 9 British medal hopefuls to watch James Woods James Woods won five consecutive British National Championships in slopestyle between 2007 and 2011. Woods suffered a hip injury in training for the 2014 Sochi Olympic Winter Games, but finished a remarkable fifth in the slopestyle. After winning the Big Air competition to take a first ever Winter X Games gold medal in 2017, the Brit went on to take Winter X Games Europe bronze in slopestyle before repeating the feat at the World Championships a week later.
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Winter Olympics 2018: 9 British medal hopefuls to watch Elise Christie Elise Christie was born in Livingston and moved to Nottingham when she was 15 in order to pursue her sporting dream. After representing Great Britain at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, Christie enjoyed the most successful season ever by a British female short track speed skater in 2012/13 - finishing the campaign ranked top in the 1000m world rankings, with two European gold medals to her name. Following three disqualifications at Sochi 2014, the 12-time World medallist will be confident of improving on her previous Olympic best result of 11th in the 500m at Vancouver 2010.
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Winter Olympics 2018: 9 British medal hopefuls to watch Eve Muirhead Eve Muirhead became the youngest ever skip to win a Winter Olympic medal when she guided Team GB to bronze at Sochi 2014 in what was her second Winter Olympic appearance. A four-time world junior champion, Muirhead has won multiple European and World senior medals – including a second gold at the 2017 European Championships – and will once again skip Team GB’s women’s curling rink in PyeongChang.
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Winter Olympics 2018: 9 British medal hopefuls to watch Dave Ryding Dave Ryding shocked the alpine skiing world when he claimed Britain’s first World Cup skiing podium for 36 years with slalom silver in Kitzbuhel in January 2017. The man from Bretherton had almost made another trip to the podium in Stockholm in the parallel slalom, but finished an agonising fourth, just 0.06 seconds off a bronze medal. Ryding competed at the Vancouver and Sochi Olympic Winter Games, finishing 17th in the slalom in Russia, and achieved his highest World Championship placing in 2017 when he came 11th.
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Winter Olympics 2018: 9 British medal hopefuls to watch Charlotte Gilmartin Charlotte Gilmartin began competing as a junior speed skater for Great Britain aged just 15, before rising through the ranks to regularly compete on the world stage. In January 2016, Gilmartin won 3000m gold and overall silver at the European Championships and added 500m bronze a year later.
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Winter Olympics 2018: 9 British medal hopefuls to watch Andrew Musgrave Andrew Musgrave’s first outing at the Olympic Winter Games came at Vancouver 2010 where he finished 51st in the 15km + 15km double pursuit, 55th in the 15km freestyle race and 58th in the individual sprint. In 2014, he competed in his second Olympic Winter Games in Sochi where he qualified 27th for the individual sprint before finishing 44th in the 15km classical and 53rd in the 50km freestyle. The Dorset-born athlete finished fourth in the 50km freestyle at the 2017 World Championships – a higher placing than any previously achieved by a British Nordic skier.
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Yarnold said: "I am hugely honoured to be flag bearer. I have been flag bearer in a closing ceremony in Sochi and that was really cool, but that was a celebration of an amazing Games.
"I do feel a big responsibility at the beginning of the Games - I am representing the team so I can't drop the flag or get it wrapped round the pole.
"I've got to make sure I stand tall and represent GB. It's something I'm used to doing sliding on the competitive field but in a ceremonial moment it's really exciting and something I never thought would happen."
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