"There was a young woman sitting across the aisle. She looked to be in her mid-20s, about the age of my daughter, and was wearing a knit cap with a Switzerland logo. Her dark hair was in long, thin braids and framed her friendly face. "How's it going?" I asked, setting down my backpack. "Nervous," she said with a faint smile."
"Women's bobsled - or bobsleigh, as Europeans call it - is a two-person operation with a pilot in front and brake woman in back. "The first responsibility is pushing the sled as fast as I can, together with my pilot," she said in a German accent and near-flawless English. "I have to sit still and count the curves until we reach the finish line, when I have to pull the brakes. I'm responsible that the sled won't crash into something.""
A 45-minute bus ride to Cortina included a chance encounter with a 25-year-old Swiss woman named Michelle Gloor. Michelle is from a small town outside Zurich and is dating Cedric Follador, pilot of the Swiss bobsled team. She previously served as a brake woman on the Swiss national team, switched to bobsled after a track-and-field sprinting background, and took up the sport in 2022. Women's bobsled is a two-person event with roles for a pilot and a brake woman. Michelle described the push start, counting curves, and the responsibility to pull the brakes to prevent crashes, and recalled crying on her first ride from intense G-forces.
Read at Los Angeles Times
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