Women's skeleton: USA's Pikus-Pace captures silver; Elizabeth Yarnold wins Britain's first gold

In dominant fashion, Elizabeth Yarnold slid to Great Britain's first Olympic gold of the Sochi Games Friday, besting the field in the women's skeleton competition by nearly an accumulated second. 

Yarnold's lead was padded by her Sanki Sliding Center record time in heat three, where she was the only woman to dip under the 58-second mark.

Earning the silver medal in her final Olympics was the USA's Noelle Pikus-Pace. After reaching the finish line and learning that she won an Olympic medal, she went into the crowd to celebrate with her family before taking part in the flower ceremony.

Finally, Russia's Elena Nikitina added another medal to her country's suddenly-growing total. She edged American Katie Uhlaender, who put down a valiant fourth slide, by just four one-hundreds of a second.

Canada's Sarah Reid finished in seventh, while Melissa Hollingsworth jumped five spots to 11th after a fourth heat that was second only to Yarnold.