A cash crisis is threatening to put the brakes on Patrick Singleton's Olympic luge preparations.

The Bermudian has qualified to take part in next year's Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Utah.

And while his place at the event in February is not in jeopardy, his bid to keep in shape for the event could be under threat.

Singleton, who has been given time off from his job as a journalist with the Bloomberg company, has, so far, not received funding from the Bermuda Olympic Association and has had to rely on his own savings and private donations to help keep him on track.

But the bank account is on the verge of running dry and just a week after the start of the World Cup season he may have to scratch plans to race at future events.

Just last week Singleton was forced to drive more than 1,000 miles from Salt Lake City to Calgary in Alberta, Canada, because he could not afford the air fare.

While his team-mates relaxed in comfort aboard their plane, Singleton was behind the wheel for a 28-hour drive.

Although he qualified for the main event on arrival, he fell ill and was well off the pace in his first run proper and effectively out of contention.

Singleton said he did not want to make excuses for his poor outing but said he believed the drive was at least partly responsible.

Reflecting on his week, Singleton said: "I had really fast runs in Calgary during qualifying but my race was a little disappointing. I made a small mistake on my first run, a very minor mistake, and it just scrubbed a lot of time off the run and I was out of the race practically on the first run.

"I spoke to my coaches and I think it is the result of the whole week. I drove from Salt Lake City to Calgary and arrived on Monday. It is over a 1,000 mile drive and it took me about 28 hours to drive up. I arrived in Calgary and having had no sleep trained that day. Training was good but I got sick on Thursday. I was really feeling quite awful. I was dizzy during the race and wasn't able to focus that well.

"Then after the race I just drove that 1,000 miles again and arrived late last night and we trained again this morning. It's not the best scenario."

Unless Singleton's fortunes change he might soon be strapping himself into the driver's seat once again. He is now back in Utah training but is due to take part in another event in Lake Placid, New York, in two weeks. That trip is now in serious doubt.

"The airfares are so expensive I am trying to save money any way I can and I think I got sick from all the driving," he said. "It is really not helping. My coaches are telling me I have to fly but (I can't afford to).

"It's a bit of a struggle at the moment and it puts a lot of pressure on me. I am not trying to make excuses but I am exhausted. I made the flight to Japan for the Olympic Games and I know what jetlag is like and it's far worse when you've done 28 hours in a car, had no sleep and you go straight to the track."

Singleton said he didn't want to come across as complaining but he believed he had done everything expected of him to secure financial aid from the powers that be in Bermuda.

"As yet I haven't had any assistance. In July I put my application in for the Olympic Solidarity Fund, which comes from the IOC (International Olympic Committee) and is funnelled through Bermuda but I haven't got anything yet and I never received elite athlete funding," he said.

"All the other teams have got Olympic Solidarity funding and all my team-mates got it well in advance. I applied early in the summer and while they have all got it and are fine, as yet I haven't. It obviously hasn't reached Bermuda so I guess there is a problem somewhere."

Singleton said he was not comfortable with making a public appeal for help, but did not know what else to do.

"I have put in all the applications that I can, I think we have done just about everything at our end. I am sure the BOA are working extremely hard to ensure that if there is funding available it gets through but I don't know where the problem is," he said.

An eternal optimist, Singleton is determined to put his time in Canada behind him.

"I hope that it will be my only mistake of the season," he said. "I was disappointed because Calgary is a track that I know well and I was so fast there I was really looking to get a good time to prove to myself that I am so much quicker this season than I have been in the past. But there are a lot more races to come . . . if I can get to them."

Singleton did receive some good news this week when retired US athlete John Edwards provisionally agreed to coach him in the lead-up to Salt Lake.

"I guess he likes the way I slide and we get on really well. His speciality is Salt Lake City. Very few coaches actually know Salt Lake but it is his home track," he said.

"I have been in talks with him for about two years now and I can't believe he has finally agreed to it. Now it is a question of getting the necessary things in place, getting my sliding to a good level so that I can feel good about myself.

"We haven't formalised anything yet. He has said 'I am here if you need me, I would love to coach you'. Obviously I told him I don't have any money at the moment and that is so critical in any sport."

Singleton believes his recent experiences will stand him in good stead by the time the competition comes round.

"I think it is so important to have race experience on top of a lot of training. It is really important to go to a track that you haven't done a lot of racing on and to go for it, to go under these pressures when you are tired, when your body is sick and to make mistakes so that when the Olympic Games come and there are 50,000 people at the track and everyone is watching on TV at home you have had the kind of pressure."