Lolo Jones named to U.S. bobsled team

A few weeks after taking up the sport, Lolo Jones has made the U.S. national bobsled team.

Jones was named to the team Thursday morning as a push athlete. The Olympic hurdler finished second in a team selection race with pilot Jazmine Fenlator, of Wayne, N.J., on Saturday.

She joins 2010 Olympic bobsledder Emily Azevedo, world championship medalist Katie Eberling and track and field athletes Tianna Madison, Aja Evans and Cherrelle Garrett.

The pilots selected are Elana Meyers, who had a bye onto the team because of her bronze at worlds last season, Jamie Greubel and Fenlator.

The men's team will be led by world champion Steven Holcomb and his crew of Steve Langton, Justin Olsen and Curt Tomasevicz. The other pilots are Nick Cunningham and Cory Butner.

The next Winter Olympics will be held in Sochi, Russia, in February 2014. The upcoming World Cup season begins in two weeks and continues through February. The top athletes compete on the World Cup circuit. The lower-level races are part of the America's Cup, Europa Cup and Intercontinental Cup.

The U.S. pushers were evaluated on a combine test and results from the summer push championship and team selection races, which ended Wednesday night. The committee also considered the past year's results as well as input from coaches and drivers.

Jones, who competed in hurdles at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics, was among 16 women vying for a spot as a push athlete on the bobsled team. The 30-year-old who ran track at LSU was among those recruited by women's bobsled coach and 2002 Olympic silver medalist Todd Hays. Jones, who grew up in Des Moines, started in the sport just last month and finished seventh in the summer push championships Oct. 5.

Madison, 27, won an Olympic gold medal in London as part of the 4x100 meter relay team. She finished fourth in the women's 100.

The World Cup season opens in Lake Placid, N.Y., Nov. 8-10.

USA Today