South Shields snowqueen completes first Winter Olympic race

South Shields snowqueen Amanda Lightfoot has competed in her first race in South Korea.
Amanda LightfootAmanda Lightfoot
Amanda Lightfoot

The 30-year-old, who is taking part in the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, has finished 67th out of 87 in the women's biathlon 7.5km sprint race.

The former St Wilfrid's RC School pupil completed the course in 24 min 15 seconds to finish 3mins and nine seconds behind the winner - Germany's Laura Dahlmeier.

Amanda LightfootAmanda Lightfoot
Amanda Lightfoot

She missed with three of her ten target shots.

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Lightfoot is Team GBs sole biathlete - a mixture of cross-country skiing and shooting and was her second taste of the Olympics.

She competed in Sochi in 2014. On that occasion, she was the second female British biathlete to compete at a Winter Olympics, having started the sport through the military at the age of 19.

In the 2014 Winter Olympics, Amanda finished 71st in the 15km individual event, following her 75th place in the 7.5km sprint, which was her Olympic debut.

Amanda LightfootAmanda Lightfoot
Amanda Lightfoot

Since that competition, she has continued to represent Great Britain on the international stage.

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Amanda joined the Army’s Adjutant General Corps as a clerk at the age of 16 and decided to give the sport a try while she was serving in Iraq. Since then, she has been on full-time release from the Army so that she is able to pursue her sporting dream.