'I do love speed and I love adrenaline': Canberra track star turns to bobsled

On the long drive back from the Stawell Gift, good friends Lauren Boden and Sarah Blizzard got talking. And eventually the talk turned to bobsled.

Blizzard was a 100-metre sprinter before she turned to bobsled in 2019.

Both her and Boden were coached by Matthew Beckenham in Canberra before Boden retired as a 400m hurdler.

That was until the pair got chatting. And with Blizzard looking for a new brakewoman, Boden's competitive juices started to flow.

She was already feeling nostalgic in her first return to Stawell since she won the 200m in 2019.

Then the pair spent a couple of days driving up to Blizzard's new hometown of Brisbane.

Boden only retired from the hurdles about two years ago, hanging up the spikes after 13 national titles, two Olympic Games and four Commonwealth Games.

But the seed had probably been sewn last summer, when Boden headed to Europe to cheer on Blizzard on the bobsled circuit.

After narrowly missing out on competing at the 2022 Beijing Games as a brakewoman, Blizzard has made the move to pilot and was looking for a teammate.

Wanting to help out her friend, Boden put her hand up for the Aussie bobsled trials in August.

Now she's headed to colder climbs with the potential for a tilt at next year's world championships.

"We did the Melbourne to Canberra overnight, then the Canberra to Brisbane drive," Boden said.

"As you do with good friends you just chat. It started off talking about gym programs and I guess I was thinking of what to do next.

"I knew there was testing to recruit new people that was happening in August so I said to her, 'I'm not committing to anything, but if I were to maybe come to the trials and see how I go what would I need to tweak with my training?'

"For me it's a good way to help her out as a bit of a development season with it being fairly risk free for me."

It will be the first time Boden's tested herself on the ice - with her and Blizzard having had a crack on a "push track" in Prague earlier in the year.

A push track's where you push a basic sled on a train track - to help get a feel for your starts.

They didn't do too badly either - winning as a pair, while Boden also took out the solo event.

Now that school's out for the year it's time for the slippery stuff.

No sooner than the bell rung for the final time and Boden, a teacher, was off to Europe - flying out on Sunday, December 17.

She spent Christmas in the Czech Republic and will be there well into the New Year.

There she's getting her first taste of the bobsled proper - jumping on the back of the metal sled before hurtling down the icy track at death-defying speeds.

Boden will also compete in her first race on January 9 before coming back from her summer winter sojourn and then moving to Brisbane for a fresh start.

"I'm excited about it. It's just hard to know because I still haven't slid on the ice," she said before she left.

"I've been doing a lot of preparations for it. I'm stronger than I was in the gym when I was running hurdles.

"But I still don't know if it's all going to work out when we actually slide on the ice.

"I do love speed and I love adrenaline ... so I feel like I will enjoy it."

And, if all goes well on the ice in the next few weeks, what about the Winter Olympics? Is that a serious consideration?

The next Games will be in Milan, Italy, in 2026 - when she'll be 37.

Never say never. She would become just the third Australian to compete at both the Summer and Winter Games.

Former 400m hurdle world champion Jana Pittman competed at the Sydney and Athens Games in 2000 and 2004 respectively, before going on to compete in bobsled at the Winter Olympics in Sochi in 2014.

Paul Narracott's the other - first as a sprinter at Los Angeles in 1984 before switching to bobsled at the 1992 Olympics in Albertville.

It won't be the first time Boden will draw comparisons with Pittman, having experienced that all through her hurdling career.

"If I go to the Winter Olympics I wouldn't even be the first female Australian 400m hurdlist to do that because Jana has done that," Boden said with a laugh.

"I would be 38 at the next Winter Olympics so to me at the moment I don't really want to be doing elite sport at 38.

"That's the truth of it for now. But it's kind of the case of never say never.

"There's the prospect of potentially sliding with Sarah at world champs next year because one of our other brakewomen had surgery on her foot.

"The rest of our season for the team next year is a little unknown at the moment so it's one of those things where I'm taking it bit by bit and seeing how the team evolves - being open minded to it, but not saying 'no' long-term.

"I'm doing it for the next couple of months and then see what happens after that."