Women’s sports news round-up – January 9

Great Britain had never had an athlete win a World Cup Big Air competition previously – a discipline which will make its Winter Olympic Games debut in Pyeongchang in February next year. Full story via TeamGB

Athletics: Laura Muir completes the perfect week by helping GB win Great Edinburgh mixed relay Cross Country
The new year simply could not have gone better for Laura Muir so far. Since the bells rang 2017 in, she has already added another British record to her name and, in the glorious surroundings of Holyrood Park, impressively anchored her Great Britain team to victory in the 4x1km mixed relay at the Simplyhealth Great Edinburgh XCountry.

It was the perfect end to a perfect week for the 23-year-old, whose obliteration of Liz McColgan’s 25-year-old British indoor 5000m record in Glasgow in midweek showed that a pre-Christmas winter training stint in South Africa has paid dividends. Full story via Athletics Weekly

Skeleton: Lizzy Yarnold loses World Cup overall lead after ninth-place finish in Altenberg
Olympic skeleton champion Lizzy Yarnold finished ninth in the third race of the World Cup season and lost her lead in the overall standings. Britain’s Yarnold finished 2.1 seconds behind Germany’s Jacqueline Loelling while Tina Hermann took silver and Janine Flock bronze, with Britain’s Laura Deas coming sixth. Yarnold drops to joint third in the overall rankings, level with Hermann. Full story via the BBC

Speed Skating: Elise Christie will not defend her European titles this month
British short track speed skater Elise Christie will not defend her European titles this month after deciding to skip the Championships in Turin. Christie, 22, has won five World Cup gold medals and broken the 500m world record this season. She says she wants more time to prepare for the World Championships in March. Full story via the BBC

Tennis: Johanna Konta has progressed to the second round at the Sydney International.
Sixth seed and British number one Konta beat Australian Arina Rodionova 6-3 6-4 in her opening match of the tournament. Full story via the BBC

Danielle Sellwood, Sportsister
The Women’s Sports Magazine