Skeleton

Lake Placid, N.Y. - Got 15, maybe 20 minutes?

That ought to be enough time for the program manager of Canada's skeleton team, Nathan Cicoria, to explain the formula for deciding the pecking order and the composition of Canada's men's and women's teams in the 2010 Winter Olympics.

But on the course, it's all about the head-first, one or two minutes on the ice.

"It's an individual sport, where being a team is a better environment to perform in," Cicoria said Thursday, explaining the duality of the sliding thing.

"It's only one person pushing the sled, only one person in the sled and at the end of the day, only one person getting to wear that medal. So, we are a team - with the exception of that one or two minutes on ice, when we're one person."

This picturesque Adirondacks village, the site of the 1932 and 1980 Olympics, plays host this weekend to the World Cup skeleton and bobsleigh events on Mt. Van Hoevenberg.

And after a strong showing last weekend in the first race of the season in Park City, Utah, Canadian sliders can be forgiven if they see their chances enhanced by a series of injuries to top competitors from other countries. The skeleton races go today, with two-man bobsleigh scheduled for tomorrow and four-man bobsleigh on Sunday.

Germany will be without two of its most accomplished sliders, bobsleigh driver Andre Lange and world champion skeleton racer Anja Huber, who won the snow-squall-shortened event in Park City with a time of 51.22 seconds, ahead of Abbottsford, B.C., racer Amy Gough, who was second at 51.36.

Huber twisted an ankle, while Lange left North America with a groin strain. Furthering the opportunity for Canadians to make hay will be the expected absence of world two-man champion Beat Hefti of Switzerland (bruised ribs) and American Todd Hays, who hurt his hamstring in Park City.

Canada took two podium places in the women's event last weekend at Park City, with Mellisa Hollingsworth of Eckville, Alta., finishing third.

Michelle Kelly finished fifth after being reinstated on the eve of the event.

Kelly was disqualified in October at World Cup team selection races, when it was found that a seal of the International Bobsleighing and Toboganning Federation (the sport's governing body) on the side of one of her runners had been altered.

Kelly, 35, appealed, claiming the seal was altered when a coach used sandpaper after one of the runners hit cement on the track.

The disqualification would have dropped the native of Fort St. John, B.C., so far down the rankings she would have effectively been shut out of the Vancouver Games.

She was reinstated on a technicality - it takes three judges to make an on-site ruling, and two of them had left the event early - and her fifth-place finish in Park City allowed her to meet a set of criteria based on podium finishes and placings over an 18-month period, qualifying her for Olympic consideration.

"I always knew there was nothing done to my equipment," Kelly said.

"I did nothing performance-enhancing. But even though my world was shattered, it doesn't serve anyone to get caught up in a blame game. It will take some time for them [the team] and for me to process everything. In the end, let's get some medals for Canada."

Kelly's return meant Sarah Reid, 22, of Calgary was bumped down to the Intercontinental Cup team.

Asked how Kelly's return was greeted, Cicoria said: "Whenever there's a change, it takes a little bit of time for the team to transition. I'll respect the privacy of team at this point."

Why not? In this sport, the truth is most often found during the one or two minutes on the ice, not in the boardroom.