Patrick Singleton is going to the Olympics.

Adding another chapter to a remarkable story, Singleton became just the second ever Bermudian to qualify for the Winter Games following a series of fast and frightening training runs in the lead-up to Saturday's World Cup luge event in Innsbruck, Austria.

In a competition marred by a horrifying crash involving a friend, the 23-year-old Southampton resident booked his trip to Nagano, Japan, in two months, consistently clocking times within seven percent of the leader to meet the IFL standard.

He finished 46th and 13th in his two World Cup runs, good for the 43rd overall on Saturday.

Singleton actually qualified on Wednesday, the first day of training, but kept it to himself in order to focus on the rest of the week's competition. He didn't tell his parents, Derek and Sallie, until late Saturday and spoke to The Royal Gazette yesterday from London, during a stop-over on his way to Calgary, Alberta.

"It's a feeling I can't describe,'' he said.

"Being able to represent Bermuda has always been a dream of mine.'' Simon Payne was the Island's first Winter Olympian, competing in the luge in the 1992 and 1994 Games. And it was Payne who introduced Singleton to the sport during a dry-land camp less than two years ago. "I wouldn't have been able to do it without Simon,'' said Singleton.

While Payne helped remove much of the discrimination against non-traditional winter nations, Singleton said "stigmas'' remain, both because of his background and fallout from the Jamaican bobsled team in 1988.

"That's why it's important for me to go out there and put in a good performance,'' Singleton said. "I've got to go out and prove myself every race. It's a disadvantage but it also makes me stronger, both as an athlete and as a person.'' Singleton had to shrug off another slight as late as Saturday, when officials failed to clear the track of snow as they had for competitors from more established nations. But that was nothing compared to what he had to endure on Thursday, when Czech slider Radim Lanka suffered a broken back during qualifying. The 20-year-old remained paralysed on Friday, following a six-hour operation.

The incident occurred about five minutes before Singleton was to take his turn. That evening, several athletes, Singleton said, refused to take part, although the Bermudian wasn't among them. "I felt I had to get back on the sled.'' But the incident, as well as other crashes, reminded him of his own mortality in a sport where speeds of more than 80 mph are reached. "We all know the sport is dangerous. It could happen to me but I can't think of that.'' Singleton called the Igls track "very dangerous'' and it prompted him to go slower and steer more than he normally would. "I didn't take the risks a lot of the bigger boys took.'' For that reason, Singleton wasn't optimistic about qualifying for the Olympics, counting instead on next week's run-up to the World Cup event in Calgary.

Austrian Gerhard Gleirscher won Saturday's competition, his first World Cup luge victory, beating two-time Olympic champion Georg Hackl of Germany.

Gleirscher was one of only two sliders to break 50 seconds on his first run and finished with an aggregate time of 1:40.265.