Women relive Cool Runnings

Thirty years after the nation’s fabled debut in Calgary, Jamaica is sending its first women’s bobsleigh team to the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, writes Mark Staniforth.

Jazmine Fenlator, who was a member of the United States team four years ago in Sochi, will pilot the Jamaican sled having switched to the country of her father’s birth. She is joined by brakewoman Carrie Russell, a former world athletics relay gold medallist, and is targeting a top-ten finish after coming seventh in the Winterberg World Cup last month.

Jamaica’s exploits in 1988 inspired the hit movie Cool Runnings. One of that team, Jamaica Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation president Chris Stokes said: “This is the 30th anniversary of the first team to qualify and we are glad to have a women’s team qualify.”