Little things like a busted-up luge and a banged-up arm weren't going to deter Patrick Singleton from his appointed rounds yesterday.

Sliding atop a borrowed fifth-hand sled and with his arm burning in agony, the 22-year-old Bermudian went out and posted a personal best time in training for the Nagano Winter Olympics.

It was only his second time on the 1,300-metre track, in the mountains of the Japanese city, since a horrific crash on Saturday left him without a luge -- and almost without hope.

"I thought I was going to die,'' Singleton said in an interview yesterday with The Royal Gazette .

It wasn't so much the pain -- although he thought his arm was broken and conceded he will have it X-rayed when the Olympic Village opens tomorrow -- as it was the sight of the piece of wood and metal that carries him down the icy track at speeds of up to 125 kph.

"My sled was completely destroyed. I thought, `Oh Jeez, my Olympics are over','' he said.

Only two runs before, Singleton set a record for the Asian team with whom he has been training and staying since leaving the Island three weeks ago.

"I was so pleased and maybe that was what went wrong,'' Singleton said. "I pushed the envelope a little too far and maybe I lost my head a little bit.'' The sled, laying in pieces following the crash, was originally cracked when it fell off a truck in France two days before the Nations Cup race in November.

Singleton bolted the sled together and ended up finishing third but noted "It's been waiting to break.'' Attempts to order kufans -- the fibreglass brackets that fuse the blade to the base -- were unsuccessful, leaving Singleton without a sled, some 18 days before the opening ceremonies.

Worse, the track got faster and team-mates began putting up "incredible'' times, said Singleton. "I was watching this and I said `I've got to get myself a sled'.'' Then fate entered. Team officials came across an old luge in Taiwan and had it shipped to Tokyo. Singleton picked it up on Wednesday night at a courier company at the airport -- where he was met by the ubiquitous Japanese press -- and was on the ice for the first time in four days yesterday afternoon.

Then he crashed again, in his first run on the new sled in the same part of the track that caused his first wreck.

"You have no idea how low I felt,'' he said.

That night, after a bout of reflection, rest and focus, Singleton went out and had a spectacular run. "I'm back on track,'' he said.

Singleton is staying in the frigid attic of a small, family-run hostel, some 30 kilometres outside Nagano and two kilometres from the track itself. He is sharing a room with a luger from India and with whom he has developed a rapport and friendly rivalry.

The two are part of an FIL (International Luge Federation) Asian team; Singleton was included because he is also from a small, traditionally non-winter nation.

They have also become fan -- and media -- favourites.

"The press is everywhere,'' said Singleton, who is also recovering from the 'flu. "You can't even go for dinner.

"I mean, when they're even in the starting house, asking dumb questions, it's easy to lose focus.'' The pressure is bound to get worse. Media attention from other nations, including the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, have picked up on his saga, the IBM commercial he shot in Bermuda last month will start soon, and IBM's official Olympic website is supposed to be up on Saturday.

In an effort to help Singleton cover training expenses in Japan, a fund has been set up at the Bank of Bermuda. Cheques can be made out to the Bermuda Luge Campaign.

PATRICK SINGLETON -- recovering from weekend mishap.