Paula Walker

Paula Walker
Personal information
Nationality British
Born (1986-04-23) 23 April 1986[1]
Leicester,
 United Kingdom
Residence Trowbridge [2]
Height 1.82 m (5 ft 11 1⁄2 in)[1]
Weight 92 kg (203 lb; 14.5 st)[1]
Sport
Country  United Kingdom
Sport Bobsleigh (pilot)
Club GB Team
Retired May 2015
Medal record
Women's Bobsleigh
Representing  United Kingdom
Olympic Games
World Championships
World Cup Championships
European Championships
World Junior Championships
2011 Park City, USA Two-woman
America Cup
2010 Park City, USA Two-woman[3]
2010 Park City, USA Two-woman[3]

Paula Walker (born 23 April 1986) is a British retired bobsledder who competed from 2007 to 2014. She originally started as a brakewoman for Jackie Gunn before taking up piloting.[4]

Walker finished 11th in the two-woman event at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver alongside brakewoman Kelly Thomas, and took 12th in the same event at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi with Rebekah Wilson.[5]

Walker, along with Rebekah Wilson, won the world junior bobsleigh title at the Park City track in 2011.[6][7][8] Walker piloted the no.1 sled for Great Britain in the 2010–11 season.[9][10]

Career

Walker is a corporal in the Royal Corps of Signals. She started with the sport of bobsleigh at the age of 19. She has also represented the British Army in badminton, boxing, rounders, rugby and athletics. Her partner is fellow bobsledder John James Jackson. She is coached by Peter Gunn and by former sprinter and bobsledder Allyn Condon.[4] In June 2014 Walker announced that she would miss the 2014-15 season due to pregnancy.[11] She gave birth to a daughter, Poppy, in late 2014, and in May 2015 announced her retirement from the sport in order to focus on motherhood.[5]

Achievements

Her best World Cup finish was sixth, which she achieved three times in the two-woman event: at Calgary in the 2011–12 season and at Lake Placid and Whistler in the 2012–13 season.[12]

Walker finished 11th in the two-woman event at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. She won GOLD in Park City and is the 2011 Junior World Champion (the first ever British female to do this.) Her best results at the FIBT World Championships are a fourth place in the mixed team event in 2011 and a seventh in the two-woman competition in 2012. Her best performance at the Bobsleigh European Championship was a fourth place in the two-woman event in 2013.[4]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "LJV Sports Management Ltd". Ljvsm.com. Retrieved 6 February 2014.
  2. ↑ "Team GBR: Paula Walker". British Bobsleigh. Retrieved 6 February 2014.
  3. 1 2 Howe, Claire (17 November 2010). "Positive start to season for British bobsleigh in America’s cup". LJV Sports Management Ltd. Archived from the original on 20 August 2011. Retrieved 6 February 2014.
  4. 1 2 3 "Athletes: Paula Walker". Sochi2014. Retrieved 6 February 2014.
  5. 1 2 "Paula Walker: British Olympic bobsleigh pilot to retire". bbc.co.uk. 7 May 2015. Retrieved 17 May 2015.
  6. ↑ Thompson, Anna (7 February 2011). "Paula Walker wins world junior bobsleigh title". BBC Sport. Retrieved 19 February 2011.
  7. ↑ Howe, Claire (8 February 2011). "Britain win Junior World Bobsleigh Championships". Women’s Fitness. Retrieved 22 March 2011.
  8. ↑ Howe, Claire (9 February 2011). "Bobsleigh: Paula Walker and Rebekah Wilson win world junior title". Sport Sister. Retrieved 22 March 2011.
  9. ↑ "Walker sets pace in Bath". Bath Chronicle. 16 September 2010. Retrieved 18 March 2011.
  10. ↑ Houlihan, Owen (20 August 2010). "Walker in the driving seat". Wiltshire Times. Retrieved 20 March 2011.
  11. ↑ Rose, Neil (6 June 2014). "Sochi 2014 bobsleigh couple Paula Walker and John Jackson expecting first child". Bath Chronicle. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
  12. ↑ "Paula Walker season totals". the-sports.org. Retrieved 7 February 2014.
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