Swiss Bobsleigh Pilot Melanie Hasler: “The Olympics in Beijing was never my goal”

Melanie Hasler never dreamed she would be competing in bobsleigh finals at Beijing 2022 only three years after switching her focus from volleyball.

The Swiss athlete was a member of the national youth volleyball team before taking up the winter sport in 2017 and competing in both until the 2019/2020 season.

At that point Hasler chose to concentrate solely on bobsleigh - initially in the 2-woman bobsled - and she soon made an impression on the world stage at junior and senior levels.

Her trajectory continued and at the Olympic Winter Games Hasler reached the monobob final where she placed seventh, 1.78secs off the podium occupied by Kaillie Humphries, Elana Meyers Taylor and Laura Nolte.

The 23-year-old pilot returns to the track at Yanqing National Sliding Centre for the 2-woman bobsled with Switzerland teammate and brakeman Nadja Pasternack, who is also making her Winter Olympics debut.

They are one of two Swiss pairs with Martina Fontanive piloting the other.

Two official training heats were completed on Tuesday 15 February, continuing through until Thursday 17 February.

Competition opens with heat 1 on Friday 18 February (20:00) followed by heat 2 at 21:30 and heat 3 on Saturday 19 February (20:00).

The medals will be decided in heat 4 which gets under way at 21:30.

The speed of her rise has shocked Hasler who said before the Games that Beijing had not been on her radar, telling blick.ch: "The Olympics in Beijing was never my goal, I only had the 2026 Games in mind."

Hasler moves from the sand to the ice

Of Dominican heritage, Hasler was born in Berikon, in the Swiss canton of Aargau, in May 1998, the youngest of four children.

Volleyball was her first love and by the time she was 13 Hasler was training seven times a week and competing in beach and indoor matches.

The teenager attended the United School of Sports in Zurich and was active in the National B League while a part of the Switzerland youth team.

However, her life took a different turn in 2017 when her volleyball coach recommended her to two-time Olympic champion and former Swiss national team coach Christoph Langen.

Langen is a former decathlete who switched to bobsleigh in the mid 1980s before going on to claim four medals - including two golds - across four Olympic Winter Games.

He was impressed by Hasler's speed and jumping ability although Hasler had little awareness of the sport.

“All I knew about bobsleighing was what I had seen on TV or from the film ‘Cool Runnings’,’’ she told juliusbaer.com.

“I had no idea what skill set was required to become a bob racer.”

Encouraged by Langen, she tried it out and that was that. Her passion for bobsleigh was ignited just as her feelings for volleyball had waned.

"I invested a lot of time and energy in volleyball and was on the right track [to a professional career], but the burning motivation was no longer there," she said.

Hasler looks back at her rise

Success soon followed and in 2018 Hasler became Swiss junior champion and placed seventh in the U23 Junior World Championships.

She spent less than a season as brakeman before transitioning to pilot and in 2019/20 she finished fifth in the 2-woman bobsled as well as making her World Cup debut.

In 2021 Hasler was third in the 2-woman bobsleigh at the Junior World Championships and had seven top-10 finishes on the World Cup circuit.

She finished second in the monobob trial event last October on the Olympic track before an injury scare in December when she pulled her hamstring which forced her to miss the first 2022 World Cup event in Sigulda.

Looking back at her swift rise on the eve of the Winter Olympics, she said:

"A lot has happened since then, more than I ever hoped for," she told blick.ch.

“Because I made it with my team in 2022, I want to enjoy it all the more and just gather as much experience as possible for 2026. I'm really looking forward to it!"