Mellisa Hollingsworth continues to serve notice that she is more than just a podium threat at the Vancouver Olympics. Right now, she's the most consistent female skeleton driver in the world.

Hollingsworth, from Eckville, Alta., won the silver medal Friday here at a women's World Cup race. Hollingsworth's combined time of 2:05.22 was half a second behind Kerstin Szymkowiak of Germany, who tore up her home track for the gold medal. Svetlana Trunova of Russia was third in 2:05.49.

Michelle Kelly of Fort St. John, B.C., was in second place after the first run but came in 12th in the second to settle for fourth. Kelly was pulled out of last weekend's race in Cesana, Italy, as part of an ongoing dispute involving the runners on her sled. She was reinstated this week and now Canada needs her to help guarantee that the country gets three sleds in the Olympics. Amy Gough of Calgary, who battled a flu bug that has made it's way through the entire Canadian sliding team, finished 17th.

Hollingsworth has two third-place finishes, a first (at Lake Placid) and a second in the World Cup so far and leads Shelley Rudman of Great Britain 835-819 in the World Cup standings. But she says her solid runs don't have her wishing the Vancouver Olympics started sooner.

"I don't because I keep learning things," she said. "I joke that maybe I'm a slow learner because I've been doing this for 15 years and I keep learning things every time I go down the track. But that's what I enjoy about it. There's still some valuable lessons in the next four World Cup races."

Hollingsworth admitted that Kelly's ongoing battle with Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton has been a distraction for the team - although she says that one of the keys for her has been eliminating any distractions or what she calls "just stuff that's noise in my head.

"It's so unfortunate for the entire team because there's so much emotion involved - what's happening this race and the next," said Hollingsworth. "You want to solidify the team and have a solid bond and know who your team is and that's really hard on anybody. But I feel very confident that we'll get that third sled if we keep sliding and performing the way we have."

In the men's race later Friday, Jeff Pain of Calgary placed ninth, 2.08 seconds behind winner Martins Dukurs of Latvia. Frank Rommel of Germany was second and Russia's Alexander Tretiakov came in third.

Jon Montgomery of Russell, Man., finished 12th while Mike Douglas of Toronto failed to qualify for the second run.