Riding bobsled is like 'controlled car crash,' Team USA says


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PARK CITY — Team USA athletes are in Park City, meeting with local and national media prior to the 2014 Winter Olympics.

As part of that, we got a first-hand look at the bobsled. It's a "rush" that requires a 10-minute training course for visitors.

"The best way to describe it is like a controlled car crash," said Steve Langton of Team USA Bobsled.

Teammate Chris Fogt, from American Fork, said, "The first time going down is not very fun. If anyone tells you it is, they're lying. It's pretty violent and it's pretty rough."

The sleds are heavy, weighing more than 400 pounds.

"You put everything you have to try and get that heavy thing moving as fast as you can," Fogt said. The sleds at the Utah Olympic Park aren't the sleds U.S. athletes will be using in Sochi in 2014. They will use something new.

"This is a more updated, more recent sled," explained Steve Holcomb, another Utahn on Team USA Bobsled. "It's carbon fiber. It's more technically advanced."


The first time going down is not very fun. If anyone tells you it is, they're lying.

–Chris Fogt, Team USA Bobsled


He said BMW got involved with USA bobsled and designed something even Europeans will envy.

"These two new sleds are going to be crucial in keeping up," he said. "The Germans and Europeans are well funded and they get brand new sleds. The Russians go through sleds like candy. It's crazy."

At the Olympic Park, we traveled up to 66 miles per hour down the bobsled track, but the course was dry. Pilot Cody Johnson said if the trip had been on ice, speeds would have reached up to 80 miles per hour.

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