SKELETON: Australian slider, Michelle Steele, has finished third in the opening round of the World Cup Skeleton season in Calgary, Canada.

The Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder had great speed on both runs, and was narrowly beaten for the silver medal by young Russian athlete, Elana Nikitina, who finished just two hundredths of a second ahead.

The event was won by sliding veteran, Elizabeth Yarnold, from the United Kingdom.

Initially, USA’s Noelle Pikus-Pace, was thought to be the winner, but she was later disqualified for sled saddle irregularities, handing the victory to Yarnold and giving Steele the second World Cup bronze of her career.

Steele and her support team were delighted with the Queenslander’s performance, who finished just 0.26 seconds behind the winner after two consistently fast runs down the 1988 Olympic track.

Her battle with Nikitina was intense. The Russian finished third on the opening run, just two one hundredths clear of Steel, and both recorded exactly the same time on the second run.

Teammate, Lucy Chaffer, finished in ninth place. After the opening run the AIS scholarship holder was 11th and moved up two places on the final run showing promising signs for the upcoming events.

Steele was delighted with her opening salvo on the road to Sochi.

“I had two good pushes, both were PBs on this track, and two good runs, so you have to be happy with that'" Steele said.

“We’ve had seven weeks on the road and this is our first international race, so we were keen to get racing.

“I was pretty relaxed on both runs, just focused on what we have to do.

“I lost a bit of time on the first run between turns 10 and 11, but after a chat with my coach, I improved on that on the second run and was faster than my first run.

AIS Head Skeleton Coach, Erik Bernotas, was pleased with the efforts of both his sliders.

“It is a really good result to get two in the top ten,” Bernotas said. “We have had a really positive week, worked really well as a team.

“We’ve put in a lot of work coming in to this season, so you have to put trust in that, which both Michelle and Lucy did today.

“It’s set the tone for the coming events. Every week we learn and that is important as we move towards Sochi.”

In the men's event John Farrow from Sydney (NSWIS) placed 20th in his first north-american World Cup. Farrow was 19th after his first run (57.20s) and improved his second (56.71) to finish the day 2.52 seconds behind Latvian Martins Dukurs. The 31-year-old who has come back from a terrible foot injury was trialling racing without his foot brace. 

The Australians will be thrilled with the Olympic qualification points earnt towards Sochi 2014. The season continues, with another World Cup in Park City, Utah, next weekend.