SLIDING: It’s the last chance for Australian sliders to secure vital Olympic qualification points before the Christmas holidays and all the action starts today, Friday 13 December.

The Australian Olympic bobsleigh and skeleton squads are in Lake Placid, USA, the home of the 1932 and 1980 Olympic Winter Games. They are set to contest the third World Cup of the 2013/14 season in icy conditions.

“A cold weather front has come through causing the ice and air temperatures to drop really low,” men’s bobsleigh pilot Heath Spence said.

“This makes the track faster and harder to drive. This is great because I feel it gives me an advantage having a lot of track time here. “

As the sun rises for the weekend in Australia, 6.30am Saturday AEDT  (2.30pm Friday 13 December in Lake Placid), two Aussie males, who could push Santa’s sleigh, will contest the ‘formula one on ice’.

“The World Cup race here in Lake Placid is the same track we raced on last week in the North America Cup race 6, where we come fourth in 2-man and third in 4-man,” Spence said.

Three hours later they will be followed by World Cup bronze medallist Michelle Steele and her teammate Lucy Chaffer as they continue their outstanding performances in skeleton.

Australia’s sole male skeleton athlete, John Farrow, will slide down the same track one hour later at 7pm Lake Placid time, which is 11am on Saturday AEDT.

The action for the sliders continues right through the weekend. The men are back in the bobsleigh for their third and fourth run in the 2-man event on Saturday 14 December.

On Sunday 15, two-time Olympians Astrid Radjenovic and Jana Pittman will contest the women’s 2-man bobsleigh event while the men contest the 4-man event. Pilot Spence will be joined by Gareth Nichols, Duncan Harvey and Lucas Mata, the same team which won the bronze medal last week in the North America’s Cup.

“We are the best prepared team we can be right now,” Spence said. “The starts are getting better, the team is confident in my ability to drive fast and safe and that’s resulting in good starts and a good team environment.”

As the World Cup finishes on Sunday, it is time to retreat, train and hopefully enjoy some Christmas festivities before Olympic qualification resumes.

“It’s cold and snowy here in Lake Placid. The ice was at minus eight yesterday during training and the air temperature is minus 10,” Spence said.

Their sliding teammates, the lugers, are on the other side of the country, in Park City and will slide down the luge track built for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games. 

“We are in Salt Lake City! It's beautiful,” West Australian Ashley Cooney said. “It’s so nice to finish on a track like this one.”

Townsville local Alex Ferlazzo and South Australian Dan Newton will compete at 11am on Friday AEDT (5pm Thursday 12 December in Salt Lake City) soon to be followed by Cooney. 

So if Rudolph can’t make Christmas this year, maybe Santa will accept a ride from a few Aussies in their ‘bob’ sleigh!