Australia look to have another athlete firming as a medal contender for February's Winter Olympics with slider Michelle Steele snaring her third podium finish in the opening skeleton World Cup event of the season.
Steele, 27, finished just two one hundredths of a second out of second place at the meet in Calgary, Canada.
Veteran UK slider Elizabeth Yarnold took out the event with Russian Elana Nikitina second.
Australian Teammate Lucy Chaffer was ninth.
Initially American Noelle Pikus-Pace was thought to be the winner, but she was later disqualified for sled saddle irregularities, handing the victory to Yarnold and giving Steel the second World Cup bronze of her career.
"I had two good pushes, both were PBs on this track, and two good runs, so you have to be happy with that," Steele said.
"We've had seven weeks on the road and this is our first international race, so we were keen to get racing.
"I was pretty relaxed on both runs, just focused on what we have to do.
"I lost a bit of time on the first run between turns 10 and 11 but, after a chat with my coach, I improved on that on the second run and was faster than my first run."
Steele, a 2006 Winter Olympian in Turin where she finished 13th, missed out on qualifying for the 2010 Games but has bounced back strongly in the past 12 months with a World Cup third placing in Austria last season and a sixth place at the world championships.
In 2007, she became Australia's first medallist in the sport when she took out silver at a World Cup event in Japan.
The season continues, with another World Cup in Park City, Utah, next weekend.
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