Skeleton racer Patrick Singleton yesterday served notice that he could be among the contenders for honours at this weekend?s World Championships in Calgary, Canada.

Fresh from two fourth-place finishes at the Challenge Cup in Konigsee, Germany over the weekend, the young Bermudian turned in what he considered an even better performance in his opening two training runs for the Worlds yesterday.

Against the top 35 competitors in the world, Singleton?s two runs were the seventh and ninth fastest of the day.

?I?m just flabbergasted,? said Singleton in a telephone interview last night. ?I beat all the top Americans, the top Germans, it was just fantastic.

?I think when the other teams and their coaches figure out where they went wrong they?ll get faster, but at this point I?m definitely driving my skeleton much faster than them.

?If I could finish in the top 10 in the world, that would be something. But at the moment I?m just focusing on the training. I know come the weekend it?s going to be really tough.?

Singleton will have two more training runs today and tomorrow with the big event due to take place on Saturday and Sunday.