Nicola Minichiello's dream of sliding to glory like teammate Amy Williams lay in apparent ruins after a disappointing first day during the Olympic women’s bobsleigh in Whistler.

Minichiello and brakewoman Gillian Cooke, who had hoped to strike gold on the same track which saw Williams prevail in the skeleton at the weekend, were lying 10th at the half-way position, a mountainous 1.38sec behind the Canadian leaders and almost a second behind the bronze medal position with two runs remaining.

While Williams, Britain’s only medallist of the Winter Olympics cheered from the side of the track as the snow came down at the Whistler Sliding Centre, Minichiello was unable to produce anywhere near the sort of drives which saw her strike gold at the world championships last year.

The former heptathlete tried to adopt a brave face afterwards, declaring:"We are still shooting for the gold medal. That's what we're going for and that's what we've always gone for. On tracks like this anything's possible and we'll bring it back tomorrow."

Yet, realistically, the dream appears over after a mistake on the first bend in each run cost Minichiello dear. "Overall I'm driving most of the track really well but I'm just making a mistake on corner one and it's killing our speed.”Indeed, perhaps still rusty after the recent operations to correct an eyesight ailment following a pre-Christmas scare, Minichiello only just managed to finish ahead of teammates Paula Walker and Kelly Thomas, who lay 0.19sec behind in 11th place.

The second-string pair produced a creditable effort, especially so soon after suffering a crash in training on the controversial, super-swift Whistler track.Walker said: "For me the crash was done and dusted pretty much straight away. We went straight up and had another run down the track. It just acted as a reminder that a bobsleigh track can bite you on the backside."

Canadian pair Kaillie Humphries and Heather Moyse lead the competition just 0.13sec ahead of Erin Pac and Elana Meyers of the USA, with Germany’s Cathleen Martini and Romy Logsch a further 0.27sec adrift.