2018 USA Bobsled National Push Championships Coming to Lake Placid

After months of offseason training, over 40 athletes will have the opportunity to showcase their performance development in a head-to-head competition at the 2018 USA Bobsled National Push Championships in Lake Placid, N.Y. on the wheeled push track this Friday.

"The USA Bobsled National Push Championships mark the end of summer training and phases us into team pushing and preparations to get on the ice," said USA Bobsled Head Coach Mike Kohn. "This particular push championships sets the tone for the season, but also for the new quadrennial. It's only a step in the process, but it's a big step for our athletes to show the coaches and their teammates how hard they've trained over the summer. Our staff is really excited to see our athletes compete."

The schedule is as follows, with all times listed in EST:

Friday, Sept. 28
9:30 a.m.: Women's brakeman push competition
10:30 a.m.: Men's and women's driver/monobob push competition
1 p.m.: Men's brakeman push competition

Saturday, Sept. 29
9:30 a.m.: Women's combination testing
10 a.m.: Men's combination testing

In the women's competition, the best two of three heats will be combined to determine the winner. In the driver/monobob competition, female pilots will take one heat from the driver's bar and one heat from the monobob position on the brakes, and the lowest combined time over the two heats will be the winner; while the male pilots will push both heats from the driver's bar. The men's athlete with the lowest combined time over three heats-one heat from the brakes, one from the left side and one from the right side-will be named champion. Ties will be broken by the single fastest push. 

Monobob was announced as a new women's discipline for the 2022 Olympic program following an International Olympic Committee Executive Board meeting in July.  The 2018-2019 season will be the first time the event is hosted on the World Cup, and the 2018 USA Bobsled National Push Championships is the first U.S. push competition to include monobob.

Following the head-to-head competitions on Friday, combinations will be assembled to push together on Saturday to start the first round of testing for the upcoming season.

Follow @USABS on Twitter and USA Bobsled & Skeleton on Facebook for updates.

About USA Bobsled & Skeleton: USA Bobsled & Skeleton (USABS), based in Lake Placid, N.Y., is the national governing body for the sports of bobsled and skeleton in the United States. USABS would like to thank its sponsors, suppliers and contributors for their support: BMW of North America, Under Armour, Kampgrounds of America, Thorne Research, Boomerang Carnets, Hudl, Tesa Tape, PVS International, Ferris Mfg. Corp, Machintek, deBotech and Carpenter. For more information, please visit the USABS website at www.usabs.com.