Bree Walker is sitting in seventh place at the halfway stage of the Beijing Winter Olympics monobob competition at the Yanqing National Sliding Centre.
Walker is almost two seconds behind early leader Kaillie Humphries of the United States, but just 0.77 seconds off the provisional podium with two runs left to race on Monday.
The 29-year-old was sitting 10th after her first run, having been untidy through the uppermost section of the course.
She finished 1.11 seconds behind early pacesetter Humphries, who established a track record of 1 minute and 4.44 seconds in her first slide down the "Ice Dragon", reaching speeds of over 120 kilometres per hour.
With all runs counting towards a driver's overall time, being so far behind the leader all but rules Walker out of contention for gold barring a serious mistake from Humphries, who set the fastest time in both of her runs so far.
"I'm not making it easy for myself, that's for sure," Walker said after completing her second run.
"So we just have to come back tomorrow and clean it up some more and hopefully I can climb up a few more spots."
Walker's second run (1:05.54), which was 0.01 faster than her first (1:05.55), was the sixth fastest in the second round as several riders struggled with their lines through the tight and technical course.
The Australian topped the timing list in three of the six official practice runs prior to Sunday's opening two competitive efforts.
But she said conditions had changed significantly over the course of the first few days.
"The ice is a little bit harder because of the temperature, we're on more polished runners, but that's the conditions that you have to deal with," Walker said.
Walker came second in the overall World Series standings in the 2020/21 season.
She is a genuine medal chance in an incredibly tight field, all of whom are hoping to claim a piece of history as the sport's first Winter Olympic champion in the event.
The former 400 metres hurdler has recorded five World Series podium finishes this season, including winning a gold medal at Winterberg in early December.
