SKELETON: Olympic qualification for the Australian skeleton squad begins tomorrow as athletes compete in the first World Cup of the 2013/2014 season.

Olympian Michelle Steele and Sochi hopefuls Lucy Chaffer and John Farrow are at Calgary Olympic Park in Canada, home of the 1988 Olympic Winter Games to earn precious points on the road to Sochi.

“I’m excited to get the season started,” Farrow said. “Cant wait.”

For the first time in competition, the 31-year-old Sydneysider will compete without his foot brace.

“I have chosen to compete without my foot brace which I am a little nervous about after some slips in training,” he said.

The device was developed by specialists to support his condition of foot drop, suffered after a major injury during a warm up run at the 2011 World Cup in Lake Placid. Farrow tripped on his spikes and his knee went sideways, rupturing his ACL, LCL, hamstring and popliteal tendon. He also broke his tibia and did peroneal nerve damage in the accident.

“My mental game is to overcome this with confidence as it is the right thing for me at this point.”

Farrow will slide first, in the early evening of Friday 29 November local time, which is 11am Saturday 30 November AEDT. The women will follow shortly after at 12:15pm on the Saturday.

“The track is nice and smooth right now,” he said.

The weather has changed since they first arrived in Calgary a few days ago and Farrow is not displeased.

“A warm shinook has rolled in creating warmer than normal conditions,” Farrow said. “I welcome this as have had good results in warm weather in Calgary.”

The former mountain bike rider is thrilled with the team’s preparation and the support they have received.

“We are on the best prepared equipment and have the best team,” Farrow said.

“Our hard work on equipment and driving as a team has us with some of our highest speeds in training. I have no doubt we have everything we need to perform.”

Farrow, who is no stranger in having to overcome injury, sees only himself as the competition.

“My major competitor is myself and overcoming my weak foot,” he said. “If I’m able to get that sorted I am confident I can beat anyone on this track.”

“It's a real tough mental game for me right now to not get dragged down or fall into excuses with my situation. Hopefully I can compete with a clear mind and get a good result here.”

The experienced Steele, who was Australia's first female skeleton Olympian when she placed 13th at Torino 2006, is also raring to go.

"I'm feeling good going into the first World Cup of the season. We've had a really good pre-season and I'm looking forward to the start of racing where I can put everything together and let it fly," Steele said.

"The Calgary track is familiar to me, we've spent a lot of time on this track over the years. The conditions for race day are looking consistent with what we've had in training these past few days. We've been working hard and we're ready to race!

"Canada will be a strong contender here with the advantage of racing on their home track." 

From Calgary the skeleton athletes travel to Park City in America for the second World Cup of the season.