Shelley Rudman insists she is taking the build up to a potential third Olympic appearance all in her stride as she prepares for the second skeleton World Cup of the season.
Rudman, the reigning world champion and Olympic silver medallist from Turin 2006, placed fourth in the season opener in Calgary as British teammate Lizzy Yarnold took gold.
Both Rudman and Yarnold were upgraded to those positions after initial winner American Noelle Pikus-Pace was disqualified with the second leg requiring a trip into the USA and Park City.
This season’s World Cup is key in deciding how many athletes Britain will be able to field at Sochi 2014 and who will fill those places with a third GB slider in Donna Creighton also on the tour.
She placed 18th in Calgary and, while the excitement ramps up towards the Olympics, which are now almost two months away, Rudman, sixth at Vancouver 2010, will be keeping her head.
“The main goal is to qualify. We don’t actually get selected for the Great Britain team until the end of January so the goal is to get some good results so I’m well enough ranked in the country to be selected for the Games,” said Rudman, the overall World Cup champion in the 2011-12 season.
“The pressure is definitely there but I’ve been through it enough to know that the Olympics is totally different. There can be that expectation there but it all depends on the actual athlete on that track.
"Myself and a lot of the athletes see the Olympics as a totally different event. For the media it’s all about the Olympics whereas for us the overall World Cup is a great portrayal of who’s the best skeleton athlete. The Olympics is more like our Grand National in that respects.”
© Sportsbeat 2013