Mellisa Hollingsworth (left) celebrates her bronze medal in the World Cup Championship in  Kongissee, Germany (Courtesy Mellisa Hollingsworth)

I started sliding skeleton in 1995 in Calgary, Alberta, the site of the 1988 Winter Olympics. In 1996 I took my first trip overseas and competed in my first World Cup, well then it was called "Ladies FIBT cup" but same difference, in Kongissee, Germany and won a silver medal.

The track was built in 1968 and definitely reflects its age in its architectural design. It's the first permanent, artificially refrigerated track and instead of having the classic concrete snake design hidden in the mountains it has dark wood panels covering the concrete.  There are no short walls in the massive "S" corners, so spectators can walk right into the belly of the corner as a sled speeds past.

The Kongissee track has so much history because of its age and with that comes the inevitable change.  The track had to undergo some construction this summer to keep up with our sliding technology because we are going quite a bit faster than what they were in 1968.

I was happy with the alterations because it included a longer breaking stretch.  Kongissee is where I suffered my first ever concussion two years ago by going off the end of the out-run smashing into a large "high jump" mat head first at 60km/hr. I'm still suffering from "zingers" as I would call them in my head.

When I found out Kongissee would be the host of the 2011 World Championships I was excited. I have only won  five World Cup races in my career, but two of those have been on the German track. Secondly, the last time I won a World Championship medal of any colour was in 2000 at Igls, Austria!

Quite the dry spell considering my career to date.

We had a three-week break from our last World Cup race until the World Championships and this was the only race I was focusing on all season. I injured my foot in August, which impeded my training and fitness and surprisingly affected my mind more than I would have ever imagined.

But I was confident my altered training plan would get me through the season and I would be healthy and ready to get sprinting three weeks before Worlds. When that day came and my foot was in the same painful state. I was disappointed, frustrated and discouraged.

We arrived at the University of Rif outside of Salzburg, Austria to start the "speed" training and the fire grew inside of me as I had to sit on the sidelines and watch my teammates spike up and get some good honest sprint workouts in.  When they finished I was able to join them in the weight room.

This isn't the mental state you desire to be in as you prep for the biggest race of the season. There is a certain feeling you strive to attain as you prepare your body for a peak:  fast, twitchy, strong, powerful, all of this contributes to your confidence on your sled.

In four runs over two days I got myself into a power skid on the exit of Kriesel (360 corner) where the consequences are severe. This corner is intense because the range of the oscillations will intensify if your timing isn't perfect. You are traveling in a tight right hand circle and waving up to the roof of the corner and down to the belly under around 4-4.5G's(gforce) so vision is limited.

When you get to the exit of the corner and realize you are too high to squeeze into the "Doodles" (like a banked straight away, think of moguls on a mountain) you will either smash into the wall and flip and have a rough go through the Doodles or be angled the wrong direction and be thrown back and forth a few times killing your speed as you enter the bottom portion of the track.

The only way I was able to conquer this corner my first eight runs was to skid my sled on the exit and I'm sure I don't have to tell you that isn't the fast line.

My confidence was diminishing and our physio, Louise Vein, could see me struggling. I was standing on the line with about one minute before the track would be cleared for me and all five foot nothing of Louise came up to me and grabbed the collar of my jacket and shook me back and forth with a radar lock on my eyes told me to "SNAP OUT OF IT!!" "Come on Mel, you can do this, you have it inside of you, trust yourself... just TRUST it".

If I wasn't awake before that, I sure was afterwards.  A flood of emotions came to the surface. The track was cleared for me and I followed Louise's instructions.  My sled was going to get to the bottom of the track, I had to trust it and not get in the way - trust my skills and my instincts.  That was the turning point for me. I went from being 2.5 seconds behind the Germans to running in the mix with them and pulling my confidence back as we headed into race day.

That was the game plan for the four-heat race on an extremely difficult track ... to TRUST. And there's no sense in not introducing the pink elephant in the room, I don't have a great track record when it comes to 4-heat races, I acknowledged that and went about my business as I warmed up for heat one.

I pushed a personal best 5.14 with a technical mistake on the block. I had a decent run down the track; bit of a bumpy exit on Kreisel but it was good enough to put me in third place. My second run I had a much better push, 5.10 (fourth ranked, season best) and another consistent run down to keep me in third spot heading into day two behind two German sliders.

On Day 2 I didn't have the same snappiness in my body, but decided that would not be a factor in my mental game. I accepted it was ok to be fatigued and that has always been my strength, to still be fast and strong when I'm tired. Heat 3 I made the same error on my start as I did in the first heat, but this time it had a bigger consequence where I lost 1/10th at the top with a 5.17(14'th ranked) start.  This would be close to a 3/10th deficit at the bottom with a consistent run.  Shelley Rudman of Great Britain took full advantage of this and pulled in right behind me in fourth spot.

Heading into the fourth and final run I wasn't looking behind me. I was focused on my plan, my run and my TRUST. I got to see Shelley's fastest run of the race pop up on the clock as I was standing on the block and it didn't affect my plan. I was relaxed on the block and felt like I was ready to push a technical start.

I pushed a 5.12 (sixth ranked) start and nailed the "S" curves. I had a slight skid in the bend away and it set me up poorly for the corner before Kriesel. I didn't get the entry I wanted for the 360-degree corner but I stuck to my plan. I was patient with all of my steers and at the last moment I felt so high on the exit and I had a bit of panic and then it happened... I skidded my sled.

You can't waste any time wallowing in your mistakes or the next corner will eat all of your speed. I stayed in the moment, focusing on the rest of my steers on the track and came across the finish line seeing the number 1 blinking on the scoreboard.  Finally!!! It took 11 years but the dry spell had ended.  I won Canada and myself a World Championship medal.

The personal victory was that I had four consistent runs and my fastest run was my last run. I earned the bronze medal!

It was a fantastic environment to have success, the stands were packed with lots of fans and even a few of them were Canadian! I am on my way home now as I type, almost two months of living on the road and can't wait to sleep in my own bed, make my own food and get riding my horse Rascal!   

Another skeleton season has ended and I want to thank all of my coaches, teammates, family, sponsors and Canadians who have supported my journey this season.

Now it's time to get this foot healed and figure out what is next for me!