Laura Deas ( ; born 19 August 1988) is a British sportswoman, best known as a skeleton racer on the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

circuit, representing the

British Bobsleigh and Skeleton Association The British Bobsleigh and Skeleton Association (BBSA) is the main sports governing body for bobsleigh and skeleton in the United Kingdom. History British Bobsleigh was formed in 1927. It was known as the British Bobsleigh Association from 1980 unt ...

. She won bronze at the

2018 Winter Olympics The 2018 Winter Olympics ( ko, 2018년 동계 올림픽, Icheon sip-pal nyeon Donggye Ollimpik), officially the XXIII Olympic Winter Games (french: Les XXIIIes Jeux olympiques d'hiver; ko, 제23회 동계 올림픽, Jeisipsamhoe Donggye Ollimpi ...

in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Early life

Born in

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

, Wales, Deas attended Howell's School, Denbigh. She played

hockey Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...

, representing North Wales in competition, and participated in equestrian sports, from

Pony Club Pony Club is an international youth organization devoted to educating youth about horses and riding. Pony Club organizations exist in over thirty countries worldwide. Origins Pony Club began in Great Britain in 1929 when the Institute of the ...

tetrathlon A tetrathlon (from the numerical prefix "tetra-" meaning four) is a team competition organized by Pony Clubs for its members. It is a variant of the modern pentathlon, without fencing. Thus it comprises the four disciplines of shooting, swimmi ...

in which she became team captain and latterly

eventing Eventing (also known as three day eventing or horse trials) is an equestrian event where a single horse and rider combine and compete against other competitors across the three disciplines of dressage, cross-country, and show jumping. This ...

(taking it up professionally from 2006 to 2008),

Skeleton

Deas was brought into skeleton in 2009 through

UK Sport UK Sport is the government agency responsible for investing in Olympic and Paralympic sport in the United Kingdom. It is an executive non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport. It was created ...

's "Girls4Gold" talent identification programme and was selected to UK national team the following year. She rides a Blackroc sled. Deas won her first Europe Cup race in Winterberg in 2010, in only her fifth international race, after placing third in the two previous races. Deas finished fourth in her only Junior World Championships, in 2011 (her only year of eligibility) at

Park City Park City may refer to: a city in Utah. Places * National Park City, London, England, UK; see parks and open spaces in London in the United States * Park City, Illinois * Park City, Kansas * Park City, Kentucky * Park City, Montana * Park City, ...

. In March 2012, she joined the North American Cup circuit for two races at Lake Placid, both with podium finishes. For the next two seasons, Deas competed in the Intercontinental Cup, where she had one third-place finish and two second-place finishes. She made her World Cup debut in the 2014–15 season, in which she claimed two medals, took seventh place in the

world championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

at Winterberg, and finished fifth overall. Deas earned her first World Cup victory in the opening race of the 2015–16 season. The same season she also finished third at Lake Placid and fifth at the European Championships in St. Moritz. Her best European Championship result was fourth, in

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

Igls Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol and the fifth-largest city in Austria. On the River Inn, at its junction with the Wipp Valley, which provides access to the Brenner Pass to the south, it had a po ...

. In the overall World Cup rankings, Deas finished her first season in fifth place, with 1314 points. The following year, despite earning more points, she dropped back to seventh place; and in 2016–17, 1240 points was good enough for sixth place. Deas featured in the Olympic team for the first time in 2018 after finishing the World Cup season standings in seventh place, ahead of fellow

Team GB Team GB is the brand name used since 1999 by the British Olympic Association (BOA) for their Great Britain at the Olympics, British Olympic team. The brand was developed after Great Britain at the 1996 Summer Olympics, the nation's poor perfor ...

skeletoner and defending Olympic champion

Lizzy Yarnold Elizabeth Anne Yarnold, OBE (born 31 October 1988) is a British former skeleton racer who joined the Great Britain national squad in 2010. With consecutive Olympic gold medals in 2014 and 2018, she is the most successful British Winter Olympia ...

. She took the bronze medal behind winner Yarnold and silver medallist Jacqueline Lölling, thus becoming the first Welsh woman to win a Winter Olympic medal. Deas competed for Great Britain again in the 2022 Winter Olympics and finished in 19th place, a result that has since been attributed to inadequate equipment.

References

External links

*
Laura Deas
at the British Bobsleigh & Skeleton Association {{DEFAULTSORT:Deas, Laura 1988 births Living people Sportspeople from Wrexham British female skeleton racers Team Bath winter athletes Welsh Olympic competitors Olympic skeleton racers of Great Britain Skeleton racers at the 2018 Winter Olympics Skeleton racers at the 2022 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2018 Winter Olympics Olympic bronze medallists for Great Britain Olympic medalists in skeleton Welsh_Olympic_medallists