Relishing the colder conditions of the northern winter, Australian sliders were out in full force over the weekend, vying to secure precious qualification points for the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia. 

The luge squad was competing in the Nations Cup in Winterberg, Germany while on the other side of the globe, the bobsleigh and skeleton squads were contesting their first World Cup of the season in Calgary, Canada, home to the 1988 Olympic Winter Games. 

Skeleton Olympian, Michelle Steele, was the outstanding performer of the group, claiming a podium finish in the opening round of the World Cup Skeleton season in Calgary, Canada.

The 27-year-old from Gladstone in Queensland, finished in third place just 0.26 seconds behind the winner sliding veteran, Elizabeth Yarnold , from the United Kingdom.

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. 

“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.

Teammate, Lucy Chaffer, finished in ninth place. After the opening run the 30-year-old from Perth was 11th and moved up two places on the final run showing promising signs for the upcoming events.

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.

Dual Olympians Astrid Radjenovic and Jana Pittman were not able to match their impressive performance from the previous weekend in Park City, where they finished sixth in a field of 17 teams and just 1.02 seconds behind the race winners. 

The women’s 2-man bob recorded a good first run in a time of 57.64 but were off the pace in the second, finishing with a total time more than two seconds (+2.17) behind race leaders Kaillie Humphries and Heather Moyse of Canada. 

In Winterberg, Germany, Alex Ferlazzo was the fastest luge athlete among the Australians at the FIL World Cup, finishing with a time of 54.982 seconds, 1.869 seconds behind race leader Evgeniy Voskresenskiy, of Russia. 

Twenty-four-year-old Dan Newton finished four places behind teammate Ferlazzo in a time of 55.487. Australia’s solo female competitor Ashley Cooney finished 37th, 5.377 seconds behind race winner Daria Obratov, of Croatia. 

From Winterberg, the luge athletes travel to Whistler in Canada for the fourth World Cup of the season taking place on the 6 and 7 December. 

The skeleton squad and women’s bobsleigh move to Park City in the United States for their second World Cup, which kicks off today, 2 December. 

The men’s bobsleigh squad will contest the North America’s Cup in Lake Placid, the 2-man bob on Wednesday 4 December and the 4-man bob the following day.