WEST Kingsdown skeleton slider Lizzy Yarnold has stormed into the lead of the women’s competition at the Winter Olympics.

She set a track record of 58.43 seconds in Sochi and followed it up with a strong second run to put herself 0.44 seconds ahead of her nearest rival and in pole position to claim gold.

The 25-year-old grew up in West Kingsdown and was a relatively late starter to the sport at the age of 20.

Skeleton involves hurtling down a special track with artificially frozen ice using just a sled.

Olympic competitions feature four runs over two days with the winner having the lowest overall time.

Yarnold will have the chance to secure first place with two more runs tomorrow afternoon.

The competition resumes at 3.40pm UK time.