Patrick Singleton has been handed an added incentive in his quest for Winter Olympic glory.

The Island luger, who is back in Bermuda for the Christmas holidays, had requested training time in Salt Lake City, the venue for the upcoming Games.

However, US officials, while allowing some nations to try out at the Olympic facility, have turned down Singleton's application.

“The European Championships in Germany are coming up but being as I am not from a European nation it is not that important for me,” he explained.

“I had wanted to avoid that race because it is at a difficult track and I prefer to concentrate on tracks that are designed similar to Salt Lake City.

“So I had requested training time there. There are a few nations that have been allowed but the US have denied me the opportunity to train.

“They are allowing the British, the Japanese, the Koreans and a few other select nations who they don't feel will be a threat to their athletes.”

Singleton said he believed the denial was a back-handed compliment.

“There are four male athletes on the US team and two of them on a case by case basis I can beat and have beaten this year,” he said. “Perhaps it's a way of protecting their own athletes by denying people who can beat them the training time they need.”

Singleton has tried out on the Salt Lake track recently and put in some impressive times and he believes this lies behind the refusal.

“I think they must have looked at the training times from the race we had at Salt Lake and said this is the cut-off level and these guys can go and these can't,” he said. “I understand the way that these games are played and I am just going to get my own back in the Games.”

Singleton is now actively looking for other venues to fine-tune his preparations.

“I got the notification from the Salt Lake guys last Thursday and I sent faxes to five different tracks last night and as yet I haven't heard anything back,” he said. “I would like to go to Calgary because it is so close to Salt Lake and it has a similar track or in France at La Plagne. I even applied to Japan but I have no intention of going there. However, if the worst comes to the worst I will go wherever I can get training.”

Singleton has put in more hours on the track than anyone else and he said that dedication had taken its toll.

“I don't know whether I have over-trained myself a bit because I have done more training on ice this year than any other luge athlete in the world,” he said. “I started two weeks earlier than the rest of the teams and have been training consistently every week from October through to the moment.

“Most of the other teams started two or three weeks later than I did. So I am wondering if my mind is bit tired. I find now in a few races I haven't been as clear on the race day.

“I don't have any fear, there are no nerves and I feel good, but I feel my senses have been a bit dulled and my coach attributes that to over-training.

“I was so aggressive about getting on the track early and it has paid off. If you look at my runs they are fast. Even if I have a mistake I still have a fast run. But I have a week off now and I hope this will help rejuvenate me.”

At the end of his two week training stint in January it's back to the World Cup circuit with meets in Sigulda in Latvia and Winterberg, near Frankfurt, Germany. Then comes the moment of truth and Singleton has no doubt he will be ready.

“I feel very confident going into Salt Lake knowing I am so much faster, that I don't make as many mistakes as I used to,” he said. “I am ready to go now. If they wanted me to go to the Olympic Games today I could go and be very competitive.”