Emma Lincoln-Smith has produced the best result of her skeleton career, finishing in sixth place in a World Cup in Igls, Austria.

Lincoln-Smith was just 0.59 seconds behind race winner Shelley Rudman of Great Britain, recording her second top ten finish for the season.

Her previous best performance was a pair of seventh place results in the middle of last season

Lincoln-Smith’s OWI/AIS team-mate Michelle Steele finished in 15th place, 1.63 seconds behind the winner, after sitting in 12th place following the opening run..

Germany’s Kerstin Szymkowiak finished in second place behind Rudman, collecting her third straight silver medal for the season, while bronze went to Russia’s Svetlana Trunova.

Lincoln-Smith’s result lifted her to ninth place on the World Cup standings with 432 points.

Szymkowiak leads the title chase on 630 points from her team-mate Anja Huber on 586.

Huber, who had won the opening two events of the season, had a very mixed say, placing 15th in the opening run, then bouncing back with the third fastest time on the second run for 11th overall.

The fourth event of the season will be contested next Friday on the Torino 2006 track in Cesana.