Frozen: Track stars jump on bobsleigh bandwagon

Reaching the Olympic Games in one sport is hard enough, so imagine how dedicated you have to be to make it in two.

Especially if the second is a winter sport.

Matthew Wekpe has not made it to the Summer Olympic Games, but will turn out for Jamaica's rugby sevens team at the Commonwealth Games this summer.

Before that, the former amateur sprinter, who once trialled for the NFL's Miami Dolphins, will be reviving memories of 'Cool Runnings' as part of the Jamaican bobsleigh team at Beijing 2022.

Speaking to Olympics.com, Wekpe and his teammates hoped that some of Jamaica's leading lights, including Olympic champions Elaine Thompson-Herah, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and even Usain Bolt might be tempted to join the numbers making the switch from athletics to bobsleigh.

In Olympic history, 128 incredible humans have competed at Summer and Winter Games (before Beijing), with only five reaching the podium in both.

Of those five, only Lauryn Williams has won Olympic medals in track and bobsleigh.

The American had a glittering Olympic track record winning gold in the London 2012 4x100m relay, and silver in the 100m at Athens 2004.

Six months before Sochi 2014, the three-time World Athletics Championship gold medallist found herself on an icy runway using all that sprint power to push a 128kg metal box down an icy spiral.

She went on to win silver with driver Elana Meyers Taylor, missing out on the gold by just a tenth of a second.

Here are four more sprinters out to become queens of the bob in Beijing.

The track stars set to compete at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games

Alexandra Burghardt: Two-woman bobsleigh

Alexandra Burghardt qualified for the 100m and 4x100m at Tokyo 2020 this past summer, and just seven months later will appear in the Beijing two-woman bob.

That's an amazing achievement in itself and, given she'll be teaming up with reigning Olympic champ Mariama Jamanka - herself a former hammer thrower - the 27-year-old has an excellent chance of making the medals.

Germany dominates sliding sports and they boast the reigning Olympic champions in every single bobsled discipline: the four-man, two-man, and two-women bob.

This duo has already shown their potential: In December they grabbed double IBSF World Cup silver.

Kaysha Love: USA Two-woman bobsleigh

Following in Lauryn Williams' tracks is Kaysha Love who grew up near Salt Lake City.

Being that close to a Winter Olympic venue might have been a path for Love, if she didn't hate the cold so much.

She started out in gymnastics, then competed as a sprinter in the NCAA.

When her university athletics coach Larry Wade suggested she take up bobsleigh, she laughed.

“I kind of giggled and laughed a little bit,” Love told World Athletics, "Like, ‘All right coach, I left Salt Lake City because I was trying to get away from the snow and the cold.’”

But the power she has translated well to the push test and now she's at Beijing ready to take the U.S. to the podium having beaten the likes of former star sprint hurdler Lolo Jones - who competed at Sochi 2014 - to a berth.

Love, 24, will push for either Kaillie Humphries, who won two Olympic gold medals and a bronze for Canada before switching allegiance to the U.S., or Elana Meyers Taylor, who has two Olympic silvers and a bronze in a glittering career.

Montell Douglas: Team GB two-woman bobsleigh

Fourteen years after reaching the final of the Beijing 2008 4x100m women's relay, Montell Douglas will be careening down the ice for Great Britain.

And she's written a little bit of history before she even steps on the ice in China as Britain's first ever female Summer and Winter Olympian.

The 36-year-old told Athletics Weekly she feels “completely overwhelmed, honoured and blessed” to be the first.

“It’s been a journey for me because we’ve had a number of men but no women do it,” the Briton says.

“It’s been great to represent women and that was something that I really wanted to achieve. So I’m blown away.”

Blowing away the competition on the Yanqing track is next on the menu with Mica McNeill doing the steering.

Bree Walker: Australia women's monobob and two-woman bobsleigh

After injuries undid a promising 400m hurdles career, Bree Walker brought all her athletic ability to bobsleigh.

The Aussie flyer qualified in both the women's monobob - on its Olympic debut - and two-woman bob for Beijing, having taken inspiration from Jana Pittman and Kim Brennan.

A two-time 400m hurdles world champion, Pittman switched to bobsleigh and became the first Australian woman to compete at both Summer and Winter Olympics.

Brennan was also a 400m hurdler and won Olympic gold in single sculls rowing at Rio 2016 after she took up the sport to keep fit which recovering from injury.

"I saw Kim Brennan win gold in rowing and I thought: 'Maybe my talent lies elsewhere,'" she told World Athletics. "Bobsleigh was always something I thought I would do after athletics."

A quick Google search saw her sign up for a talent identification programme and, after acing the push test, she was soon in Whistler, Canada learning how to push a sled like the pros.

It's been all downhill since then, in the best possible sense, culminating in her making the cut in both women's disciplines for Beijing.

The 29-year-old often seeks out Pittman for advice, telling ABC.net, "We always keep in touch and I'm very grateful to have Jana in my corner. My determination is inspired by athletes like her."

Walker had the chance to practice on the Olympic track at Yanqing for three weeks last October and can't wait to compete.

“It’s so beautiful, it has amazing architecture, and the track is very interesting, it’s nothing like anything in Europe."

When to watch Alexandra Burghardt, Kaysha Love, Montell Douglas and Bree Walker in competition at Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022

Bree Walker will compete first out of the four former sprinters as the mombob makes its Olympic debut at Beijing 2022.

The Australian will compete on Sunday 13 February in the first and second run with the final two runs taking place the following day.

She will then team up with former heptathlete Kiara Reddingius in the two-woman bob on Friday 18 and Saturday 19 February.

Alexandra Burghardt and reigning Olympic champion Mariama Jamanka, Kaysha Love and her as yet unknown driver, and Montell Douglas and Mica McNeill will also compete in the two-woman bob.

MORE: How to watch bobsleigh at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022