BOBSLEIGH: The Australian women’s bobsleigh team is in Park City (USA) ready for the first race of the 2013/14 winter season.

Pilot Astrid Radjenovic leads the way, with summer-turned-winter athlete Jana Pittman, Ebony Gorincu and Jamie Hedge by her side.

Pittman tweeted on Tuesday: “First slide of the season completed today with Astrid as pilot. Feel the rhythm. I enjoyed the ride. Bruises and all.”

The quartet is treating the North America's Cup race as a warm up before their quest to qualify for the 2014 Olympic Games begins in earnest next week.

After blowing out the cobwebs in their warm up race, the Australians will contest the second of four push tests. The combined results of the push tests will determine who will be the brakewoman in the two-person sled with Radjenovic at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.

“We will do the third one [push test] in Lake Placid in the US in December and then the final one in January in Austria,” Radjenovic said.

After competing in the warm up event this weekend, the squad will contest the all important World Cups. These events are crucial for earning qualification points for the Olympic Games.

“It is the pilot who earns the quota place for the Olympic Games, based on points earned at the World Cups, European Cups and North American Cups during the 2013 and 2014 season,” Radjenovic said. 

The squad will tour North America for three weeks. They will compete in the World Cups in Calgary, Park City and Lake Placid, before heading to Europe for the World Cups.

Radjenovic must ensure she earns enough points during the season to be in the Top 40 women on the FIBT ranking list released on 19 January 2014, to secure her spot at the Sochi Games.

Also in Park City this weekend are the men’s bobsleigh team, who will contest their second North America’s Cup.

Led by pilot Heath Spence, the squad is hoping to replicate their positive performances in Calgary last weekend. The 2-man finished 13th in a sled field of 33 and the 4-man also 13th in a sled field of 23.

"The nations that were ahead of us in both 2-man and 4-man are all World Cup nations and a big majority of them are top-10 finishers," he said.

Thirty-three-year-old Spence will contest both the 2-man and 4-man races with a combination of Duncan Harvey, Lucas Mata, Gareth Nichols and Anthony Ryan.