The team ahead of the curve

Listening to a soundtrack of instrumental music, Kaysha performs 20 “mind runs” every day, visualizing the track, practicing her execution and using her hands to mimic the pressure of every curve. 

Kaysha notes that bobsled athletes often double as team mechanics. She hosts “sanding parties,” where the team spends up to eight hours manually polishing steel runners with diamond paste to gain a fraction of a second advantage.

The first former swimmer to make the Men's National Team, Carsten was known as “the lifter who swam” in college due to his obsession with the weight room. This dedication now translates into the explosive power needed for an elite push.

A self-described “data geek,” Carsten used velocity data to pinpoint the exact moment — at the 40-meter mark — where his running speed no longer accelerated the sled, using that number to dictate his exact loading strategy and boost performance.

Jasmine almost missed her bobsled career entirely. When she received the initial recruitment email from legendary pilot Elana Meyers Taylor, she assumed it was spam and deleted it. It wasn't until her college strength coach confirmed the opportunity was legitimate that she began to explore bobsled. 

Jasmine uses velocity metrics to determine her loading style, switching from a step-in load to a long jump load because the numbers proved it created higher velocity, despite being riskier.

Even the Swiss credit Albany, NY, as bobsled’s true origin point, notes Tuffy. In the late 1800s, lumberjacks raced massive 15-man sleds down frozen streets to blow off steam long before the sport reached Europe.

The single biggest shift in competitive advantage is the speed of information. In the 1990s, athletes had to wait until the evening to watch their runs on VHS. Today, coaches use tablets to instantly analyze runs between heats, allowing for immediate micro-corrections in steering or body position.