SKELETON: Michelle Steele and Lucy Chaffer have taken the quinella in successive America’s Cup skeleton races, the pair sharing victories in a dominant display of sliding.

Steele marked her move down from World Cup ranks with a gold medal performance in the first of the two events, racing down the Lake Placid track in New York in a combined time of one minute 54.05 seconds, 0.74 seconds ahead of her AIS team-mate and a massive 2.26 seconds ahead of the rest of the field.

In the second race it was Chaffer’s turn to take the top place on the podium.

The Perth 26-year-old was lying in second place behind Steele after the first run, but proved too strong on the second journey down the track, edging out her team-mate by a tenth of a second overall to take her first America’s Cup victory.

In the men’s event, Anthony Deane continued his good form, finishing fourth in the first of two events, then repeating the result in the second contest.

John Farrow had a disappointing 16th placing in the first race, but improved to ninth position in the second one.

Meanwhile, Australia’s World Cup athletes Emma Lincoln-Smith and Melissa Hoar were below their best in Altenberg, Germany, Hoar finishing in 14th place in her season debut, 2.59 seconds behind race winner host nation slider Kerstin Szymkowiak.

Lincoln-Smith was two places better in 12th position, 2.22 seconds down on the gold medallist.