WILTSHIRE slider Laura Deas believes yet another top-10 finish in the Skeleton World Cup series has given her the perfect preparation for the World Championships at the end of the month.

Deas, who lives in Melksham, claimed the best result for Team GB at last week’s seventh World Cup event of the season at Igls.

The 28-year-old placed seventh in Austria as she claimed a sixth top-10 finish of the campaign.

That result has her sitting seventh in the rankings and attentions now turn to the World Championships in Konigssee in Germany, with Deas having this week been confirmed in the six-strong British squad for the competition, which gets under way on February 24.

Deas, who is also bidding to compete in her first Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, in a year’s time, hopes her rock-solid form on a variety of tracks will ensure she is still at the think end of the action at the Worlds.

“Igls was the track that hosted the World Championships last year where I finished 11th, so I was very pleased to improve on that,” said Deas.

“I finished seventh and also had the third fastest second run, so it’s given me some confidence going into the World Championships.

“I wanted to be consistent this season.

“That was one of my biggest goals, to improve my consistency. I would have liked to have won medals along the way but sometimes, that’s just how it goes.

“I am quite confident that with the work me and my coach have done this season, we are going to be in a really good place come the World Championships and then the Olympics next year.”

The 2016-17 World Cup season is Deas’ third as part of the senior British squad and although it is the first in which she has so far failed to win a medal, the Welshwoman has still taken plenty of positives from the year.

“You can never take it for granted and you have got to remember that all the girls you are competing against are constantly improving as well,” said Deas, who has a World Cup gold, silver and two bronze medals to her name.

“It’s not a case of what won me a medal two years ago is going to win me a medal this year. I have got to constantly improve, as everybody else does.

“We are always jostling for those positions and it’s a very interesting position we are in at the moment in the women’s international field.

“Any of the top 10 women could win a medal on our day because we are all good enough to do that.

“It makes it really interesting that it’s not always the same couple of people.”