This weekend's winter sports are brought to you by the letter S.
The world cup schedule for athletes en route to Vancouver's 2010 Winter Olympics includes sledding in Park City, Utah and short-track speedskating in Marquette, Mich.
At Park City, site of Salt Lake 2002 sliding events, Abbotsford's Amy Gough won silver on Thursday, edging Olympic bronze medalist Melissa Hollingsworth of Eckville, Alta. by 0.01 seconds in the kickoff of the skeleton world cup tour.
Gough was seeking a top-eight finish to begin her first full world cup tour. "To get second and finish as top Canadian definitely is beyond my expectations," she said.
Germany's Anja Huber won gold. Fort St. John's Michelle Kelly finished fifth. Jeff Pain of Calgary was the top Canadian male in sixth. Canada's top bobsledder Pierre Lueders is hoping to pilot his quartet to its gold in the season-opener.
Quebec's Charles Hamelin is seeking more short-track medals in Marquette, where he'll battle Seattle's Apolo Anton Ohno. World cup races are Saturday and Sunday. Hamelin won two races last weekend in Montreal.
Likewise for London, Ont.-long track speedskater Christine Nesbitt, who won two gold medals last weekend in Berlin. She leads Canada in this weekend's world cup at Heerenven, Netherlands.
