Sports Personality 2010 - Amy Williams

Olympic skeleton champion Amy Williams will resume World Cup racing this week in Igls, Austria.

The 28-year-old Briton, who triumphed in Vancouver, has missed the first half of the season but will compete alongside Shelley Rudman on Friday.

Williams, who became the first individual British gold medallist for 30 years at a Winter Games, said: "I always want to do the best I can.

"But I have to remember everyone else has been competing for three months."

Rudman, who won silver at the Turin Olympics in 2006, is currently second in the World Cup standings after three podium finishes in the first four races, and fellow Briton Donna Creighton is fifth. German Anja Huber leads overall.

GB's Williams slides to Skeleton gold

Williams, who was awarded an MBE and made the BBC Sports Personality shortlist, said she deliberately delayed the start to her season as part of her preparations for the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.

She had been training through the winter at the University of Bath, where there is a push-start track, before heading to the ice in Austria.

"It feels a little bit strange, my last run on the ice before I got here was at the Olympic Games," Williams said.

"I've had quite a chilled out week before the other competitors get here and I'm looking forward to competing again.

"The first week of the season is always the hardest to adapt to, so I don't have huge expectations at this stage."

In the race to the men's title, Britain's former world champion Kristan Bromley is second behind Latvian Martins Dukurs in the rankings, with Chris Type 10th.

British skeleton's phenomenal success in the last decade at Winter Olympics, World Cups and World Championships saw its UK Sport funding increased by £1.3m to £3.4m up until Sochi.

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