Lolo Jones' 2014 got off to a good start by picking up some bobsled work less than three weeks before the U.S. Olympic Bobsled Team is announced.
Olympictalk.nbcsports.com has reported that Jones, the heartbreak U.S. Olympic hurdler at the 2008 and 2012 Summer Games, was one of two push athletes chosen to compete in the World Cup bobsled event in Winterberg, Germany this weekend.
Jones, and another track athlete, sprinter Lauryn Williams, will participate with Aja Evans as the U.S. push representatives. Evans is considered to be a favorite to be one of the push athletes chosen for the three U.S. two-woman teams that will vie in the 2014 Winter Olympics next month in Sochi, Russia.
The other push athlete favorite, Katie Beetling, is not competing this weekend. Jones and Lauryn Williams are thought to be competing for the third push athlete spot with Emily Azevedo, who also will be a spectator in Germany.
Jones will be paired with driver and World Cup leader Elana Meyers for the event in Germany. The No. 2 sled will feature Evans and driver Jamie Greubel. Williams, a three-time Olympic sprinter, will push for driver Jazmine Fenlator in the third American sled.
The U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation has been alternating drivers and push athletes in an attempt to find the best pairings available. Jones tied for second in a Dec. 8 World Cup race in Park City, Utah with Greubel but did not compete in the World Cup event Lake Placid, N.Y. on Dec. 14.
According to olympictalk.nbcsports.com, "Don't read too much into Jones pairing with Meyers for Sunday, but it's certainly more promising for her Olympic selection chances than if she was sitting out. Ditto for all of the push athletes."
The U.S. Olympic Team will be chosen after the World Cup event in Igls, Austria, that takes place on Jan. 19.
Jones has been trying feverishly to qualify as a push athlete for the Winter Olympics as she seeks her first Olympic medal. Jones was two hurdles away from winning the 100-meter hurdles in the 2008 Beijing Games when she stumbled on the next-to-last hurdle and finished seventh.
Jones then finished fourth in the 2012 London Olympics 100-meter hurdles, one-tenth of a second behind bronze medalist Kellie Wells.
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