SKELETON: Fresh from her selection in the 2014 Australian Olympic Team, Michelle Steele, has finished an impressive fourth in the final round of the FIBT Skeleton World Cup, held in Konigssee, Germany.

Her teammate, and fellow Sochi Olympic athlete, Lucy Chaffer, was a victim of worsening conditions which saw the event’s second run cancelled, finishing in 12th place.

Steele was the third fastest slider away from the start, and maintained good speed throughout the fast 1.25 kilometre track, clocking a time just 0.12 of a second outside the podium placings.

She was lucky that she was the first slider down the track, as snow started falling and conditions were worsening as the event progressed.

Chaffer was one of many to become a victim of the conditions, starting 11th and finishing in 12th place overall, just three tenths of a second behind newly crowd World Champion, Britain’s Lizzy Yarnold.

The result sees Steele finishing 11th in the Skeleton World Cup for 2013/2014, with Chaffer just 70 points further back, in 15th place.

Australia’s skeleton athletes now set their sights on the Sochi Games, where Steele will be hoping to recreate the form that saw her take a bronze medal in the opening race of the World Cup season.