Broken sleds, administration foul-ups, and a crash looked like wrecking Patrick Singleton's Olympic dream before Christmas.

A miserable few weeks competing in Europe at the beginning of this month saw Singleton struggle to finish any higher than 21st in races in Germany and Italy, and that was before he had to deal with a smashed-up sled and a crash.

Struggling to keep up with the pace in the qualifying rankings for the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, Singleton travelled to Lake Placid last week, a track he 'hates', knowing that only a top 15 finish would be enough to drag him back into contention.

As it turned out he grabbed his first podium finish in the FIBT event, after finishing sixth and eighth, and heads into his Christmas break with a renewed sense of optimism.

Six medals were handed out at the meet with the Bermudian placing sixth.

"I had a lot of bad luck in Europe," said Singleton. "I got off to a real bad start in Germany, there were admin problems which created a stressful environment I didn't need, and then my sled broke, which is unheard of.

"Then when I went to Italy, a track I really like, I crashed, and that put me under real pressure. Italy is normally a banker for me, so I went to Lake Placid, which is my most hated course, needing to really perform."

Even then fate seemed to be conspiring against Singleton, with a rider crashing just before his first run, leaving him stood on the start line for nearly 10 minutes in minus 21 degree temperatures.

"I was at the top (of the run) trying to focus, while I was freezing, so to produce the result I did, I'm very, very happy," said Singleton. "I'm in the hunt and I'm very excited about how things have finished this past week.

"At one point the chances of qualifying for the Olympics looked really slim, but I pulled it out when I needed to in Lake Placid, and I'm right back in there. And I can drop the bad results once I've had a few more races, so it might not hurt me too much in the end."

For Singleton there will be no resting over the festive period. The difficult start to the skeleton racing season has convinced his coaches that the time would be better spent at the training facility in Bath, England, working on physical training.

"I haven't had a day off from training or racing since the end of September," he said. "I'm pretty destroyed, and my legs are working well, but they're tired, and I thought I could take a week off and relax in Bermuda. But because of my recent results, the trainers think I need to go back into physical training, so we're training through till New Year's Day."

While being away over Christmas might cause other athletes to lose some motivation, Singleton takes all the drive he needs from the support he receives from his fellow Bermudians. Numerous individuals as well as TBI, XL, and Ironshore have stepped up to help out in anyway they can as he bids to qualify for his fourth Winter Games.

"I couldn't have done it without them, it really means a lot," he said.