Kimberley Bos has become the first Dutch person to win a gold medal for the skeleton, a one person event in which the competitor heads down a frozen track, face down on a sled.

Bos won the event at the world championships at Lake Placid in the US. “I am super proud,” she said after her victory. “I’ve been so close before but this gives me heaps of confidence ahead of the winter Olympics.”

She finished in a time of 3.40.06,  0.67 seconds ahead of US rival Mystique Ro, who took silver. Czech-German racer Anna Fernstädt won the bronze.

Bos, 31, last won silver at the world championships in 2023 in Switzerland.