Denver’s late bloomer in bobsled
Lauren Gibbs was working as a sales manager in Denver four years ago when a friend who saw her working out at Front Range CrossFit encouraged her to consider trying out for bobsled. It seemed outlandish at the time, but Gibbs is at the PyeongChang Olympics as the push athlete for driver Elana Meyers Taylor, and it would appear they have legitimate medal hopes in the competition that takes place Tuesday and Wednesday.
The Meyers-Gibbs duo finished fourth, seventh, first, second, fourth and fifth in training runs the past three days, so they bear watching.
“Tomorrow is going to be loud and it’s going to be crazy, and I’m just going to focus on what I’ve been working on the past four years,” Gibbs told reporters after the final training run.
Gibbs won a bronze medal with Meyers at the 2016 world championships. Meyers won a silver medal at the 2014 Sochi Olympics as a driver and a bronze medal in 2010 as a push athlete.
“We’re going to throw down, and try to throw down some solid runs,” Meyers said. “This course has been tricky for everybody.”
Growing up in California, Gibbs was a long jumper and triple jumper in high school who was recruited to compete in track at Brown University, but when she got there she decided to pursue volleyball instead. She graduated in 2006 and moved to Denver in 2013, working as an area sales manager for ADT Security Services. In 2014 she became a regional sales director for Trumaker men’s wear.
Denver’s Jillion Potter, a 2016 Olympian in rugby, saw Gibbs working out at Front Range CrossFit the summer of 2014, and after being wowed by her explosive strength, encouraged her to consider trying out for bobsled. Potter knew something about the sport because she had tried to recruit Meyers for rugby. Gibbs was skeptical at first.
“I said she’s crazy,” Gibbs said in an interview before leaving for South Korea. “It was crazy because I was like, ‘I’m 30 years old, I can’t bobsled.’ ”
She has spent the past two summers training in Colorado Springs at the Olympic Training Center.
“At the end of the day this is potentially a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and I don’t want to walk away from this having shut myself in and not experiencing it,” Gibbs said Monday, reflecting on her time in PyeongChang. “I think the most special part about this is being able to meet other Team USA athletes, and it’s like an instant extended family. I wanted a piece of that as well, because at the end of the day, all life is is what you make of it, and I just wanted a (great) story at the end of it all.”