Noelle Pikus-Pace has her own hotel room in Italy for the next few days, a perk of being the top-ranked American woman so far this season on the World Cup skeleton circuit.

It'll make what's certain to be an emotionally tough time a little bit easier.

The World Cup tour has made its way to Cesana Pariol, Italy, the site of sliding events at the 2006 Turin Games. Pikus-Pace would have been the gold medal favorite at those Olympics, but saw those hopes shattered when a bobsled smashed into her leg during a training run in Calgary, Alberta, and a valiant comeback bid wasn't enough to get her to Turin.

She's there this week, though, and while looking ahead to Vancouver 2010, flashbacks of missing Turin 2006 are fully expected.

"It's a reminder of why I'm still doing this," Pikus-Pace said. "I've tried to map out my schedule this year and find reasons and find aspects of this sport that I want to take with me, because this is my last season, these are my final runs. And at every track, I have different goals. Torino, I'm really excited to get on that track because it was the Olympic track."

Pikus-Pace has been on the Turin Games track once since the 2006 Olympics, finishing third in a World Cup race there in 2007, just two weeks after winning that year's world championship.

She skipped the 2007-08 season to have her daughter Lacee, and the World Cup tour didn't race on the Cesana Pariol track last season after a huge snowstorm dumped more than 8 feet of snow on parts of the region. The resulting avalanche conditions forced a road closure that kept most international athletes from getting to the track.

There's been blizzard conditions there this week, too, but the races are still on this time, with the skeleton events set for Friday.

"I'm really excited for this race," Pikus-Pace said.

It's more than the memories of what might have been that are tugging at Pikus-Pace this week.

To use a word she herself offered, Pikus-Pace was "awful" at times when racing outside the United States last season. The new mother couldn't find the balance between the demands of the job and the demands of family, especially when major events were going on back home in Utah, like Lacee's first words, first steps and 1st birthday.

This year, it seems easier for Pikus-Pace, partially because her daughter is older, partially because this is her farewell season.