Mimi Rahneva's veteran velocity

Mimi Rahneva is having a wild ride this world cup season. The Canadian Skeleton racer has won, been on the podium, or just barely missed a top three in almost every race so far. What makes that truly special is that this is the Bulgarian-born Canadian athlete's ninth year on the circuit. Gone are the days of blowing away the competition with explosive starting power. So why are career-best results, coming to an absolutely slower athlete?

Chalk one up to experience. It turns out that what seems like an eternity, a half-second lead in the first 50 meters, can evaporate over the ensuing minute, when it's all about avoiding micro mistakes. Milimeters add up in a 150 km per hour acceleration to the finish.

Skeleton is a beast of a sport, a five second detonation from standing start to hurling headfirst downhill. But that hyper burst start has to immediately give way to calm, cool stillness. Try finding your zen state when your face is a millimeter away from ice, flashing past you at Ferrari speeds.

Rahneva and Anastasia discover something in common. They are both in love with their somewhat fringe sports, (Bucsis is a two-time Olympian long track speedskater) and they both love the challenge of persuading curious youngsters – and especially young girls- to give their sports a try. But that's where the similarity ends. As Rahneva says- Canadian kids see what she does and their first reaction is terror!

Maybe it's a cultural thing. Some nations- like Germany and England for example, get kids on sleds at much younger ages than Canada does. Which makes for better driving skills at younger ages. Canada tends to wait a few years, then focus on faster starts for older kids.

Which brings us full circle to Rahneva, bucking those national strategies with her slower-starting ways, making skilled drivers in other nations sit up and take notice.

Go figure.