EAST LANCASHIRE skeleton ace Kristan Bromley is looking in fine form for a Winter Olympic medal after another promising training stint.

Waterfoot-born Bromley showed the potential to threaten the podium with finishes of fourth and ninth in his latest two training runs at the Whistler Sliding Center.

It followed finishes of eighth and sixth in the first session of practice for the former world champion.

Bromley is looking for his first Olympic medal and is hoping to pull off a major success when the men’s skeleton competition gets under way in the early hours of tomorrow morning.

Bromley said: “All I can ask is that I’m in the mix and that’s exactly where I am.

“There’s a big cluster of us near the top and we are still all working out the track. The second run was a difficult set-up but it is all about fact-finding.”

Bromley’s team-mate Adam Pengilly was ranked in 17th and equal 23rd positions. Canada continued to dominate with home hero Jon Montgomery fastest on both runs down the Whistler track.

Meanwhile, Bromley’s fiancee Shelley Rudman faces stern competition from Amy Williams after being outshone by his British rival in training.

Williams posted the second fastest time of the third practice run and the sixth fastest of the fourth, behind hot favourite Mellisa Hollingsworth of Canada who set an unofficial track record by cracking the 54-second barrier for the first time.

Rudman was back in eighth and 10th places respectively but the Turin silver medallist will not be unduly concerned by her times as she continues to experiment with the track ahead of the start of the competition proper on Thursday.

Rudman said: “I had a few questions in my mind and now I’ve answered them. I use these runs to learn about how I approach the track and I’ve done that. I know what the deal is now.”

For Williams, consistently one of the fastest starters on the course, her two training runs were vindication of her belief that she is suited to the Whistler track after an off-the-pace start in practice on Tuesday.

Her time in her first training run time tonight of 54.35 was bettered only by the 54.18 of Canadian Amy Gough, before Hollingsworth reminded her rivals of her dominance by blazing down her second run in 53.99.

Williams said: “I’m very happy with my runs. I needed a day like today to give me a boost of confidence and now I feel very confident. I’m actually looking forward to going down this track now.”