Bobsledder looking to make amends
First Olympic experience for Coakwell marred when sled overturned during run
As the Olympics draw closer, the Leader-Post and StarPhoenix are teaming up to profile each of Saskatchewan’s seven athletes. Today, we interview bobsledder Ben Coakwell.
When Ben Coakwell was nine years old, he settled a dispute, with his legs.
His buddy perched on a 10-speed bike. Coakwell, a future Olympic bobsledder, was on foot. They raced to the end of the block, and they raced again, and again.
“I raced him in first gear, then second, third, fourth, all the way to 10th gear. And I beat him every time,” said Coakwell, who grew up in Moose Jaw. “So they started calling me ‘10 Speed.’
“I didn’t have a bike, and you know how kids are. You start talking trash, teasing each other a little bit, and those are the kinds of things that happen.”
He paused, and laughed. “That’s when the (Olympic) preparation started.”
Ten Speed, er, Coakwell, is a natural athlete — a good enough hockey player to have seen preseason action with the WHL’s Moose Jaw Warriors, and a good enough football player to have started at tailback with the University of Saskatchewan Huskies.
When his career in the latter ended, he turned his attention to icy, downhill plunges at the urging of both Bobsleigh Canada and his football coaches.
It landed Coakwell an Olympic berth in 2014 — it ended uncomfortably, upside down, helmet scraping ice — and another shot in 2018.
Memories of a disastrous final ride in Sochi drove Coakwell through the latest Olympic cycle.
His four-man team, which was a medal contender, flipped over and rode the rest of the track upside down at the Sanki Sliding Centre near Sochi. Coakwell, a brakeman, sustained a stiff neck and hurt his shoulder.
“The Olympics is the pinnacle of competition,” said the 30-year-old Coakwell. “You spend four years prepping for it, then that crash happened. When I reflect on it now, it’s crazy to think how quickly I shifted from ‘OK, I crashed’ to ‘I need to get ready for the next one.’ The fact that it was another four years away was probably the toughest part of the whole thing.”
But Coakwell stayed patient, raced on courses around the world, pushed, and pushed, and pushed. And the harder he pushed, the closer he got to South Korea, and a second Olympics.
“That’s part of sport,” Coakwell said of the way his 2014 Games ended. “We send it; that’s just what we do. And sometimes, you’re going to crash. It’s cash or crash. It’s driven me to work harder, to go back, and get some retribution for the way things ended for me — because I didn’t want it to end that way.”
Coakwell’s four-man Olympic team in 2014 included Jesse Lumsden, Cody Sorenson and driver Justin Kripps. The 2018 combinations have yet to be formalized.
Coakwell said he didn’t immerse himself in the full Olympic experience in 2014, because he competed at the end of the Games, and had to focus on training. He expects that same dynamic this time around. But he will, of course, enjoy the opening ceremonies.
“The last time I went, the opening ceremonies, that emotional rush, really hit me,” Coakwell said. “There’s a couple guys on our team who are first-time Olympians, and I’m excited to watch them, when we walk in. I know how impactful it is.”
The next question is whether he takes a shot at three opening ceremonies, and the 2022 Games. Right now, he doesn’t know.
“I’ve been thinking about that a little bit,” Coakwell said. “With the team announcement, you get the nostalgia, the flashbacks from the first time. I’d say it’s too early to tell. I can see myself competing at the next Games. Whether I compete for the full four years in between that time, I don’t know for sure. I’m getting older; I’m 30, the body doesn’t recover as quickly as it used to, and there’s all these young kids out there who are so talented.”
In the meantime, the kid they used to call “10 Speed” is preparing to push a sled down an icy run, jump in, and ride for an Olympic medal. It’s been a driving force in his life for the last six years.
“I never thought of myself as a bobsledder,” he said. “I played hockey. I was a football player. Then I tried bobsleigh, and I loved it. You travel the world, you go to all these places, you meet all these competitors from different countries, and you represent Canada. I’m a big fan of representing Canada.”