Olympic bronze medallist Laura Deas ruled out of World Championships with whiplash

Deas, 30, suffered the injury during the combined bobsleigh and skeleton event at Whistler on Monday and she will now miss the championships.

It comes just over a year after the Brit won bronze in the Winter Olympics at PyeongChang.

“I’m obviously hugely disappointed to be missing the World Championships. It’s the biggest event of the season and it’s something that has been in my sights since the Olympics in South Korea,” said Deas.

British Skeleton’s Interim Performance Director, Natalie Dunman, added “We all share Laura’s disappointment that she won’t be racing this week,

“Athlete health and wellbeing is of upmost importance to everyone here at British Skeleton and, while this is the showpiece race of the year, we don’t believe it is in Laura’s best interests to try and return to sliding in time to compete this week.”

There is no time to bring in a replacement so Ashleigh Pittaway and Madelaine Smith will represent the Great Britain’s women.