Hollingsworth 5th in skeleton World Cup race

With the names of Canada's injured bobsled athletes written on her sled, Mellisa Hollingsworth raced to a fifth-place World Cup skeleton finish Saturday.

The native of Eckville, Alta., and her teammates made the difficult decision to compete on the same track where a serious crash earlier in the week sent three Canadian bobsled athletes to hospital.

"It was a super tough day mentally and emotionally for everyone," said Hollingsworth, the overall World Cup leader after four events. "I couldn't help but think of the boys in the accident, especially when I was sliding through Corner 16.

"My runs weren't that great today, but I am OK with that right now. This week really puts things into perspective to what our priorities are."

Canada withdrew its bobsled team from this weekend's World Cup races in Germany, citing safety concerns.

Pilot Chris Spring of Calgary was hospitalized with deep cuts, bruises and a broken nose. Graeme Rinholm of Saskatoon suffered a broken leg while Bill Thomas of Queensville, Ont., has bruised lungs and other minor trauma.

The three were expected to remain hospitalized through at least the weekend.

Defending champion Anja Huber of Germany claimed her first skeleton World Cup win of the season to clinch her fourth European title.

The 28-year-old Huber was leading when the first run was cancelled due to heavy snowfall, but she completed the second run in 59.87 seconds to win gold.

Katharina Heinz of Germany was 0.10 seconds behind to claim silver and Britain's Shelley Rudman was 0.12 seconds back in third.

The 31-year-old Hollingsworth finished in 1:00.31. Amy Gough of Abbotsford, B.C., was seventh, while Calgary's Sara Reid was 14th.

All three wrote the names of the injured athletes on their sleds, and the rest of the bobsled team turned out to cheer on the skeleton racers Saturday.

"It made me realize how grateful I am to slide and represent my country with incredible teammates," Hollingsworth said.