Australian skeleton athletes Michelle Steele and Emma Lincoln-Smith have tied for 13th place in a World Cup in Italy.

Competing on the Torino 2006 Olympic track at Cesana Pariol, the two Olympic Winter Institute sliders recorded an identical total time for the two-run event of two minutes and 0.87 seconds.

Kerstin Juergins of Germany collected the gold medal with a time of 1:58.26, with team-mate Monique Riekwald in second place 0.45 seconds behind and Noelle Pikus Pace of the USA in third, 0.26  further back.

Australian World Junior champion Melissa Hoar was in 18th place on 2:01.46.

While Steele was relatively consistent on her two runs, finishing in 14th place and then 12th, Lincoln-Smith lost a top ten opportunity after placing 9th in the opening run, then 19th in her second trip down the Cesana track.

Juergins victory was the second of her career, the previous win coming at the same venue in 2005.

The results had no impact on the World Cup standings, with US slider Katie Uhlaender retaining top spot on 555 points after her fifth placing, and team-mate Pikus-Pace in second place on 440 points.

Swiss Olympic champion Maya Pedersen retained third place on 310 points, despite missing the Torino competition.

Steele has slipped to seventh place on 281 points, while Lincoln-Smith has moved up to 15th place on 170 points.

The next World Cup takes place in Winterberg Germany, on February 16.