one anecdote wrote:
I did the bobsled and skeleton combine for the hell of it when I was an OK but not very good sprinter (11.9-12.1 range for an FAT 100). I scored ~70 points (out of 100) for the sprint events, which I thought was surprisingly high. Also, those times would have maxed out the womens' test.
Same here, mid 70s to mid 80s on all 5 scores despite being a mid distance runner (11.4 fat 100). My wife went too (I really just went because she was going). She was a mid level d1 sprinter in college but got max score on 3 of 5 scores and high 90s on 2 of them. She chose not to go to the next level
The reason that so many possible "olympic level" pushers choose not to pursue it is because they force you to train for months with them prior to the actual seasom and put strong pressure on you to hire their coach as your speed and power coach.
If they allowed you to do your own off season training and only show up for the actual skills practices, USA bobsled would dominate. Instead politics and hegemony has kept the program struggling to attract the best talent.
My wife beat people in the combine who are in this olympics. Imagine what kinds of numbers actual top level sprinters a whole second faster than my wife could put up in the bobsled combine.