A George Washington University graduate begins her drive to gold in Sochi Tuesday morning.
Elana Meyers won a bronze medal in Vancouver 2010 as Erin Pac’s brakeman, but she has since moved to the driver’s seat, where she hopes to drive three-time Summer Olympics sprinter Lauryn Williams to the top of the podium.
Meyers has familiar competition this week. She and Canadian Kaillie Humphries, who took gold in Vancouver, became close training over the summer. On the World Cup circuit, Humphries edged Meyers by one point for the overall title.
Meyers starred in softball at GW, where she received her bachelor’s in exercise science in 2007 and her master’s degree in sports management in 2011.
Meyers posted the fastest time in one of the two final training runs over the weekend -- one day after she saw pieces of her sled "everywhere" after a head-on collision with the wall past the finish line. Team mechanics, she said, worked until 11:30 p.m. Saturday to fix the damage, including replacing some parts with ones from a sled that had been on display at USA House in Sochi.
Williams is a recent convert to the ice track, where the two-time summer Olympics medalist placed third at the U.S. national push championships in late July. She won three medals in four of the races in which she was selected to compete in her first World Cup season. She is vying to become the second athlete to win gold medals in summer and winter Olympics.
The first two runs of women’s bobsled are Tuesday with the final runs coming Wednesday.
