PAULA Walker vowed to win a gold medal for her sick father at the World Junior Championships and she did just that.

The Blackburn bobsleigh ace slide to glory in Park City and dedicated it to her dad Paul who is terminally ill with myloma cancer.

The 24-year-old recorded the fastest times on both runs on the Utah track to pick up her first world title – just four years after taking up the sport.

The Great Britain number one pilot, with brakesman Rebekah Wilson, beat the USA and German teams to the pick of the medals.

No sooner had she received her gold medal, Walker was on the phone to the family home in Feniscowles.

“We didn’t really know what was happening because it was not on television,” said mum Denise.

“But she phoned and, as cool as you like, she said ‘mum, I won the gold medal’.”

“Paula put her neck on the line to say that she would win gold medal for her dad but that is what she is like.

“If she goes in to something she goes in to it to win.

“We are all incredibly proud of her, not just for what she did for her dad but for herself as well.

“This has been a tough time for all of us but this has brightened us up.”

The former St Bede’s High School pupil opened with a run of 50.04 seconds and then went 49.74 seconds to secure the gold medal.

It continues a remarkable rise to glory for the corporal in the Royal Signals who only took up the sport after the Winter Olympics in Italy in 2006.

As the GB2 pilot, she finished in 11th place in last year’s Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

This season, after earning promotion to the number one sled, Walker – with Wilson and Kelly Thomas – have secured a string of top 10 finishes in the World Cup.

But Walker pulled out of the last few rounds of the World Cup to return home to be with her father who was seriously ill.

Walker will compete in the World Championships in Germany next week.