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LAKE PLACID - Canada's Mellisa Hollings-worth and Germany's Frank Rommel slid to victory Friday as the skeleton races kicked off three days of FIBT World Cup action in Lake Placid.

Both athletes put down the fastest runs in each heat to claim the victories over the top skeleton racers in the world. The day started off with the women's heats, and Hollingsworth helped sustain the momentum of the Canadian women as they gear up to host the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver.

Hollingsworth opened the World Cup tour a week ago with a bronze medal in Park City, Utah, and triumphed in Lake Placid by topping a field of 24 women who started the race. Her teammate Amy Gough took a silver in Park City a week ago, giving the Canadians three medals in the season's first two World Cup tour stops.

"We are off to a great start," Hollingsworth said. "We came through with two podiums last week and we came up with a win today.

"It was such a tight race. It was really exciting," Hollingsworth added. "There were only hundredths of a second separating a number of us. That's how racing is supposed to be."

Hollingsworth turned in heats of 57.54 and 57.31 seconds for a winning 1:54:85 total.

Shelley Rudman moved up from fourth place in the first heat with a fast second run to take the silver in 1:55:08. Marion Trott, who won the 2009 World Championship in Lake Placid in February, finished with the bronze in 1:55:13. Great Britain's Amy Williams placed fourth in 1:55.13.

For the second time in as many weeks, the United States failed to reach the podium in either women's or men's sliding.

Noelle Pikus-Pace was the top American woman, placing fifth in 1:55.58, which was .73 off Hollingsworth's winning time. American Katie Uhlaender placed 12th in 1:56.15, and Rebecca Sorensen was a position back, finishing 13th in 1:56.20.

After winning four World Cup races a season ago, but stumbling in the World Championships at Mount Van Hoevenberg, Rommel came through and Germany took the top two spots in the men's skeleton. Rommel, who is looking to reach his second Olympic Games, triumphed by nearly a half second, turning in runs of 55.04 and 55.84 for a winning 1:50.88 total.

"I'm very happy with this result," said Rommel, who finished fifth a week ago in Park City. "This (race) is kind of a revenge for last year's World Championships. I won half the World Cup races, but was 13th in the World Championships. We had a strong team performance today."

Fellow German Sandro Stielicke slid to the silver for the second straight race, taking it with a 1:51.36 total.

Latvia's Martins Dukurs, last week's winner, took the bronze on Mount Van Hoevenberg's mile-long run, sliding to a 1:51.37 total. Martins' brother, Tomass Dukurs, finished fourth in 1:51.50.

For the second week in a row, the United States men landed athletes in the upper tier of the field, but they still left the track wondering what they need to do to reach the podium.

Eric Bernotas, of Avondale, Pa., was the fastest American finisher in Lake Placid Friday, taking fifth with a 1:51.71 total.

A week ago, Utah resident Zach Lund placed fifth in Park City. He finished 10th in Lake Placid with a 1:52.14 total. First-year World Cup competitor John Daly placed 11th for the U.S., just a single hundredth of a second behind his teammate Lund.

"We are disappointed. We are frustrated," Lund said. "We were in the medals the last two years here, and today we were shut out. This is our home track, and we have more runs on this track than anybody else. I think we are doing everything we need to do to be successful, we just aren't getting the results."

"The past two races, I raced as well as I ever have mentally," Bernotas added. "It seems like to reach the podium, we have to be perfect, and there is no perfect race. When you start thinking that way, you are going to make mistakes. We are working on a few things, and hopefully they will pan out. Right now, it's rough not reaching the podium. We'd love to see things turn around for us."

The men's field included 27 racers, with the fastest 20 athletes in the first heat earning a second trip down the track.

The Intersport FIBT World Cup resumes today with men's two-man and women's bobsled.

Sunday's finale features four-man bobsled racing in the morning and the team competition in the afternoon.