1ST LEAD Britain's Yarnold defends Olympic gold in women's skeleton By Barry Whelan, dpa

Pyeongchang, South Korea (dpa) - Britain‘s Lizzy Yarnold on Saturday became the first athlete to win a second skeleton gold medal at the Olympic Games as she successfully defended her title from four years ago.The Sochi 2014 champion produced a Pyeongchang track record in her fourth and final run to win in a combined 3 minute 27.28 seconds, 0.45 seconds ahead of German Jacqueline Loelling, who had led overnight.Another Brit, Laura Deas, took bronze 0.62 seconds off the winner as Austria‘s Janine Flock‘s poor final run saw her drop out of the medals and into fourth.The double success from the Brits means their nation continues its record as the only country to secure a skeleton medal at every Games in which the event was included.Yarnold also becomes the first Briton in any sport to win a second gold at the Winter Games - previously figure skaters Jeannette Altwegg, and pair Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, were the only British multi-medallists, with one gold and one bronze each.With skeleton decided by fractions of a second and minor mistakes hugely costly, it is perhaps no surprise that, going into Pyeongchang, every gold medal had gone to a different winner.Yarnold ended that statistic with a devastating second day in the competition after her second run on Friday, when she complained of feeling dizzy, had left her sitting third."I‘m overwhelmed and exhausted," she said. "After the first run I wasn‘t sure whether I was going to be able to finish the race because my chest infection was so bad I was struggling to breathe and I got here only with the help of my team."The 29-year-old delivered when it mattered, however, with a stunning run under pressure, whereas Flock cracked moments later.Asked how she‘d stayed cool, she explained: "[It was] a lot of practice. I‘d done it hundreds of times before, so [by] being consistent and repeating and believing in myself. It means a lot."Yarnold also had the boost of cutting-edge British team equipment at the Games which is the envy of her rivals - and, though legal, is not without controversy."We don‘t get hold of the technical innovations until the Olympics and as soon as we finish competing it all disappears into someone‘s bag and is taken away," she previously told the Guardian newspaper."But that innovation on the equipment side is where we can make massive gains."The gains helped her to a first victory since the 2015 world championships in a season which had included only one podium place."The athletes do what they have to and I just wish we had the same equipment or access to it," said American Katie Uhlaender, who finished 13th."All the more power to you [British], putting all the money you have into your equipment and your coaching. It‘s paying off."I look at the athletes and I‘m jealous. Not in a mean way but, dang, you got all this cool hi-tech stuff."