The 36-year-old Swiss slider said it was "time to jump into a new chapter of life".

She won silver in the women's event at the 2020 World Championships in Altenberg in Germany, behind home athlete Tina Hermann.

Gilardoni also competed at two editions of the Winter Olympics - Sochi 2014 and Pyeongchang 2018 - and won two medals at the European Championships.

These were a silver in Sigulda in Latvia in 2020 and a bronze in Königssee in Germany in 2016.

A former bobsleigh pusher, Gilardoni won a pair of gold medals in the two-woman event at the Junior World Championships.

She made five World Cup podiums in skeleton.

"It's time to accept that sometimes it just won't be the same as before," she said.

"My body has shown me its limits and it's time to listen to it by stopping what I truly love - sliding."