SHELLEY Rudman has revealed how she is balancing short-term pain with long-term gain after finishing seventh in the opening round of the FIBT Skeleton World Cup series.

The Pewsey slider, 31, heads into tomorrow’s second round at Park City in Utah in a positive frame of mind after an encouraging opening display at Lake Placid last week.

The World Cup defending champion was ninth after the opening two qualifying runs at Lake Placid, but moved up the leaderboard as Canada's Sarah Reid clinched her first World Cup win.

Funding restrictions mean Rudman lacks the means to conduct out-of-competition testing sessions and is using this year’s World Cup races for that purpose with the Olympics in Sochi in 2014 in mind.

But the mum of one also needs to stay in touch with the targets laid down by Bob Skeleton UK to maintain the funding she already has.

She told the Gazette & Herald: “I don’t have the funding to do any extra sliding outside of the World Cup races to test my equipment, so this season I am making the decision to do this throughout the World Cup races.

“It’s a sacrifice I have to make so I position myself optimally for the Olympic year.

“I’m working very hard on this with my sponsor Bromley Technologies to build me the fastest sled possible.’’

Rudman clocked 56.14 in her third run – her fastest of the meeting – to finish just under a second behind Reid as British teammate Donna Creighton finished fourth in Lake Placid.

She added: “My objectives this year are to find the best set up for me towards Sochi 2014 “This involves a lot of trials at each World Cup track I visit with my equipment and something I have to do.

“But at the same time, I still have very strict targets I have to meet from my federation yearly to stay on funding and I have to balance this with my testing.’’

UPDATES ON RUDMAN'S PROGRESS ONLINE ON GAZETTEANDHERALD.CO.UK TOMORROW