How serious is Lolo Jones about bobsled?
She’s cutting her track season short to return to training for the Sochi Olympics.
Jones completed her abbreviated 100-meter hurdles campaign at the Diamond League meet in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Thursday, finishing third in 12.60 seconds as Americans swept the podium.
The two-time Olympian concluded her season as the fourth-fastest woman in the hurdles this year.
The 4×100 did not go well. Jones, running the leadoff leg, had a botched handoff that disqualified the Americans. Jones was not going to run at the world championships in Moscow, having placed fifth in the hurdles at nationals, where the top three earned worlds berths.
“I want to run more races, I was (scheduled) in more races, but I had to pull out of the last five because I talked to the bobsled coach after the USAs (nationals in Des Moines, Iowa), and he wanted me like the day after USAs, but I had obligations and I had to fill out my commitments,” Jones said in a video interview with Flotrack. “Bobsled I go.”
Jones said she’s donating her prize money from Lausanne to bobsled and skeleton teammates Jazmine Fenlator and Katie Uhlaender, which is $4,000 according to the Diamond League payouts. It comes off her controversial Vine video making light of a $741.84 bobsled paycheck last month and a USA Today story this week detailing the financial struggles of short-track speedskater Emily Scott.
“It’s just a shame because I really feel like I would have had a (personal best) this season had I stuck out the season,” Jones said. “I’m kind of sad about that, that I have to end so early. But, who knows, maybe I’ll have a gap in bobsled and I can convince the coach to let me come back over and run. But right now he wants to put the weight on me.”
What are Jones’ chances of making the Sochi Olympic team? Her first season on the ice as a push athlete was productive. She won a worlds gold as part of the mixed sliding team event and one silver medal in a World Cup race.
The U.S. sent three women’s bobsled teams to the Vancouver Olympics in 2010 and is likely to qualify three teams for Sochi. Jones was the No. 4 American push athlete last season, making the world championships roster but not among the three push athletes chosen for the two-woman event. Conceivably, she must pass one of Katie Eberling, Aja Evans or Emily Azevedo in the pecking order (and not get passed herself by somebody else) before the teams are named early in 2014.
“It’s funny, I just started off as like a distraction from track,” Jones told Flotrack about bobsledding. “I was like, ‘I’m not committing to anything. I just want to go out there and see if I like it.’ From there, I love it. The best part is putting on weight. Today, I’m going to go back to the hotel and eat a whole bunch of chocolate and double cheeseburgers.”
It also appears Jones will have to squeeze in at least one date before Sochi. Bubby Lyles, reportedly a journalism student at Georgia State in Atlanta, got Jones to agree to a date with him if he got 150,000 retweets. Lyles surpassed 150,000 this week.
https://twitter.com/harrylylesjr/status/347759212274794496
Told he was close to 150,000 by Flotrack, Jones responded by saying, “Oh, really? Are you serious?”
“Good for him,” Jones said. “I’ll go on a date with him.”
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