It was a successful, if short start to Canada's women's skeleton season as Amy Gough and Mellisa Hollingsworth earned silver and bronze, respectively, at the World Cup season opener in Park City on Thursday.

Due to falling snow that slowed the track and wind that caused the timing system to malfunction, organizers cancelled the second of two runs on the Park City track in Utah, shortening the competition to just one heat.

Gough, of Abbotsford, B.C., finished her race in 51.36 seconds - good enough for her first World Cup medal behind Germany's Anja Huber (51.22).

"I'm pretty shocked. This is just crazy,'' Gough said. "My goal was to finish top-eight today to get an Olympic qualifier, but to get second and finish as top Canadian definitely is beyond my expectations.''

Following just one-hundredth of a second behind Gough was Hollingsworth, of Eckville, Alta. The 29-year-old finished her run in 51.37 seconds to earn the bronze.

Hollingsworth, who overcame a shaky start, was satisfied with third place. The bronze is her 17th career World Cup medal. 

"I am very happy with getting onto the podium, and extremely proud of Amy's performance today,'' said Hollingsworth.

"I think it is really important to get off to a strong start to the season and get on the podium. We'll be able to carry this energy with us to the next race and that will help us.''

Although she won gold, Huber was hoping for a second slide. 

"It's a little bit sad that we can't slide a second heat because I really wanted to slide a second race," she said after the second half of the competition was cancelled. "But we can see that the snow was really bad."

Michelle Kelly of Fort St. John, B.C., brought up the rear for the Canadians, finishing in fifth (51.50) behind Great Britain's Shelley Rudman (51.48).

Kelly was only recently reinstated to the women's team. The 35-year-old former World Cup title holder was disqualified from the selection races due to improper sled runners. Her return to Canada's World Cup team bumped Canada's third slider, Sarah Reid, onto the Intercontinental Cup development circuit.

In the men's competition earlier Thursday, Latvia's Martins Dukurs took the first gold medal of the season ahead of Germany's youngest slider, Sandro Stiekicke, and Kristan Bromley of Great Britain.

Canadians Jeff Pain, Jon Montgomery and Mike Douglas were sixth, ninth and 15th, respectively.

On the same track on Friday and Saturday, the world's top bobsledders will compete in their first World Cup event of the season.

-With files from The Canadian Press