Shelley Rudman to miss season after announcing pregnancy

Rudman became the first British female to win skeleton gold in the World Championships, in 2013

Britain's Shelley Rudman will not defend her world title next year as she is expecting her second child with fellow skeleton rider Kristan Bromley.

Rudman, who won silver at the Winter Olympics in Turin in 2006, will miss the whole of the forthcoming season.

The 33-year-old finished 16th in the Sochi Games earlier this year, in an event won by team-mate Lizzy Yarnold.

"Kristan and I will be welcoming a new addition to our family! We are super excited," she wrote on her website.

Rudman's silver in Turin was Great Britain's only medal of the Games.

She also won the 2011-12 World Cup title, and last year became the first British female to win skeleton gold in the World Championships, in St Moritz in Switzerland.

After her disappointment in Sochi, Pewsey-based Rudman said she had not decided whether to compete at her fourth Olympics, in Pyeongchang in 2018.

Bromley is also a former world champion and World Cup winner. The 42-year-old finished eighth in Sochi.

He and Rudman already have a daughter, Ella, who was born in October 2007.