Sochi Olympic medalist drivers Elana Meyers Taylor and Jamie Greubel Poser and medalist push athlete Aja Evans headline the U.S. Olympic women’s bobsled team for PyeongChang.
Lolo Jones did not make the team.
Meyers Taylor, Greubel Poser and Evans are joined by Olympic rookie push athlete Lauren Gibbs to round out the team.
“Unfortunately, I did not make the Olympic Team but I’m pumped for @lagibbs84 to make her first Oly team and join returning vets @eamslider24 @JamieGreubel and @AjaLEvans,” was tweeted from Jones’ account minutes after the announcement. “They will rep USA very well.”
Jones, 35, was bidding to become the first American to compete in multiple Summer Olympics and multiple Winter Olympics.
She helped push Meyers Taylor to her first World Cup win this season earlier Saturday in St. Moritz, Switzerland.
Jones hasn’t won an Olympic medal, and this was likely her last chance.
Jones led the 2008 Olympic 100m hurdles final before hitting the penultimate hurdle and finishing seventh. She was fourth in the 2012 Olympic 100m hurdles, then 11th in the her Winter Olympic debut in 2014.
She overcame shoulder surgery (November 2014), hip surgery (October 2015, which ended up causing her to miss the July 2016 Olympic Track and Field Trials) and concussion symptoms from an October bobsled crash.
Gibbs, 33, competed in six of the seven World Cups this season.
Jones competed in just one of the first six, then re-entered a World Cup sled Saturday for the first time since Nov. 18.
Jones and other push athletes who missed out saw their chances diminish Saturday morning, when Canada joined Germany as the two nations to earn the maximum three sleds for PyeongChang.
The U.S., which had three sleds in 2010 and 2014, was narrowly edged by Canada in the final quota standings.
“Six push athletes have been battling it out week after week and winning medals on the World Cup circuit this year, but we only have two spots for the Games,” USA Bobsled CEO Darrin Steele said in a press release. “We don’t take this decision light-heartedly. The selection committee chose the athletes they think have the best chance of bringing home hardware from Korea for Team USA. I wish we could take the entire team with us because they’ve all proven how hard-working and determined they are in addition to being incredibly talented.”
Meyers Taylor, the first female bobsledder to make three U.S. Olympic teams, will pair with Gibbs in PyeongChang. They will try to dethrone Canadian Kaillie Humphries, who seeks her third straight Olympic title.
Meyers Taylor led Humphries after three of four runs in Sochi but dropped to second place with Lauryn Williams in the last run. Williams retired in 2015.
Greubel Poser and Evans will share a sled again, just as they did for bronze in Sochi and at last season’s world championships.
The alternate push athlete is Briauna Jones.
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