CALGARY -- They won't name Canada's 2009-2010 World Cup skeleton team until Wednesday but Jon Montgomery's spot has already been carved in ice.
"Unless they hate me and don't put me on the team," Montgomery joked yesterday after winning the 2009 VISA Canadian championships.
Fat chance of that happening.
On a chilly afternoon at Canada Olympic Park, Montgomery sped his way to top spot with a combined two-run time of one minute 53.45 seconds to capture his third national title. That, combined with his results from previous selections races held in Whistler and Saturday at COP, earned Montgomery's place on the World Cup team.
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Three men and three women will compete on the World Cup circuit against the best sliders in the game beginning next month. Those not pegged for World Cup duty will work on the Intercontinental Cup loop in hopes of accumulating enough points to qualify for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.
The way Montgomery's sliding, there's no reason to think he won't be hunting for medals come Vancouver.
"Everything came together really well," said the 30-year-old Calgary resident, who won last season's World Cup race at the Whistler Sliding Centre. "The last run was a little sketchy but still solid. You don't want to let up, especially now. You want to find out what you're capable of, no holding back."
Jeff Pain, the 2006 Olympic silver medalist, finished second to Montgomery, while Toronto's Mike Douglas was third. Douglas, 38, missed making last year's World Cup team by a scant 2/10ths of a second. This time around, the Calgary hospital X-ray technician felt he was in the right mindset to accomplish his goal.
"I trained mentally all summer," said Douglas, who read a number of self-help books and worked with sports psychologists to embolden himself. "That's what separates good athletes from great athletes. I'm living in the now ... [Finishing third] is where I want to be and where I expect to be."
On the women's side, Melissa Hollingsworth won her third national title with a time of 1:55.66. That was just over a second faster than the slides of Amy Gough and Michelle Kelly, who were second and third, respectively.
Hollingsworth, from nearby Airdrie, Alta., said she was ecstatic not only for herself but for her teammates.
"It's going to be an exciting season for the girls. I think we're going to pull out the best in each other."
Hollingsworth was equally pleased with her start time (5.41 seconds) and how fast she went (just over 119 kilometres an hour) given that it's still plenty of time remaining in their pre-Olympic preparations.
"I'm really excited with that [start time] because we're just starting the speed phase of our training," she said.
Hollingsworth failed to qualify for the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics then won a bronze in 2006. She and Montgomery were the top-ranked Canadians internationally last season.
The Canadian team is bound for Ottawa in the coming weeks where it will wind-test its equipment and sleds. "To check some of the things we can't see on ice," Montgomery said. Once that's done, the World Cup team will compete in Park City, Utah followed by a later race in Lake Placid, N.Y.
The Canadian Olympic skeleton team will be named in mid-January following selection races.
