MELKSHAM slider Laura Deas claimed her second successive top five finish in the women’s Skeleton World Cup race in Park City, Utah on Saturday night.

University of Bath-based Deas produced the joint quickest run of the day in heat two as she moved up from seventh to fifth, just 16 hundredths of a second outside the medals in the second race of the Olympic season.

The 29-year-old, who was ranked sixth in last season’s World Cup standings, now sits third in the overall rankings, with compatriot Lizzy Yarnold, who placed eighth in Utah, joint fourth ahead of next weekend’s race in Whistler, Canada.

"I'm very happy with how consistent my results are at the moment," Deas, who is pushing for selection for her first Olympics in less than three months' time, told thebbsa.co.uk.

"Like last week, I left myself with some work to do in the second run but I was confident I could climb some spots if I slid how I had been in training.

I was very pleased to have the fastest second heat time along with a push PB because it shows what I'm capable of.

"I'm now looking forward to next week in Whistler as it's a track I've had good results on in the past."

Heavy snowfall saw the race postponed from the scheduled spot of Friday night, but Deas clocked an overall time of 1 minute 40.88 seconds, with her second heat effort of 50.16 seconds only equalled by Russian race winner Elena Nikitina.

German duo Tina Hermann and Jacqueline Loelling - the 2016 and 2017 World Champions respectively - took silver and bronze, with Yarnold slipping back from fifth after the first run to finish with an overall time of 1 minute 41.31 seconds.

"Congratulations to Laura. Today was a tough day for me and not the result I wanted after a week's hard work from the whole team," said Yarnold.

"I've not been to Park City for four years so I had a lot to remember over six runs. It's a wonderful track to slide and I wish my result could have been better."