Strong British contingent head to World Championships

SHELLEY Rudman, Amy Williams and Donna Creighton will represent Great Britain at next week's Skeleton World Championship - the first time three British women have contested the event.

SIX SHOOTERS: Williams is one of six sliders gunning for world glory in Lake Placid (Getty Images) 

They will be joined by reigning World Champion Kristan Bromley, Adam Pengilly and Ant Sawyer, who are selected to compete in the men's races.

Britain's women have been in outstanding form on the international circuit this year with Shelley Rudman and Amy Williams finishing second and fifth respectively in the 2008/9 eight-race World Cup series.

Olympic silver medallist Rudman won the European Championship title in St Moritz in January and also won two golds and one silver on the World Cup circuit this season.

Williams won World Cup silver on the Whistler track that will host the skeleton races at Vancouver 2010 in a consistent season that saw her finish inside the top-six in seven of the eight races.

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They will be joined in Lake Placid by 23-year-old Donna Creighton who makes her World Championship debut.

Creighton has been competing on the Intercontinental Cup circuit rather than the World Cup.

But having finished third overall, she is now 15th in the world rankings - good enough to earn a third place for British women at a Skeleton World Championships for the first time.

Her best result of the season was silver at Lake Placid in December, followed by a bronze at Park City in the Intercontinental Cup series.

Williams finished fifth at last year's World Championships in Altenberg, Germany and was seventh in 2007.

Rudman didn't compete at last year's World Championships as this is her first full season back following the birth of her daughter. She came 10th in 2007.

Kristan Bromley goes to Lake Placid as defending World Champion after an outstanding 2007/8 season that saw him capture the World Championships, World Cup series and the European Championship crown.

 He is joined in New York by team-mates Adam Pengilly and Ant Sawyer, who finished 10th and 17th at last year's World Championships.

Pengilly sealed his place on the team with some strong performances on the Intercontinental Cup circuit in recent weeks, including first and second place finishes on the Cesana track in Italy, after injury ruled him out of some rounds of the World Cup.

GB Performance Director Andi Schmid said: "This is the first time we have had the maximum amount of athletes - three men and three women - at a World Championships.

"The women's team will be very strong and I expect Shelley and Amy to be pushing themselves against each other and the rest of the world.

"It's a learning event for Donna, but it will give her the opportunity to see the environment and what goes on at a major competition.

"It's a World Championships and anything can happen."