Athletics: Need for speed attracts women’s sprinter to bobsleigh

TOKYO (Kyodo) — In a nation where athletes are typically groomed to specialize in one sport, Japanese sprinter Yu Ishikawa is expanding her horizons by taking a different track and learning from the sport of bobsleigh.

Japan’s 2020 national high school champion in the 100 and 200 meters, Ishikawa was selected as a member of the Tokyo Olympic 4×100-meter relay but did not take part. She did, however, attract the attention of the Japan Bobsleigh, Luge and Skeleton Federation.

Shintaro Sato, the federation’s head of competition, reached out to the powerful 172-centimeter Ishikawa this spring and provided the opportunity she had been looking for.

“A lot of the world’s athletes cross over into other sports, and I had been wanting to compete at the same time in something outside athletics,” said Ishikawa about her plunge into bobsleigh.

An essential element of bobsleigh is pushing the sled to accelerate it at the start. Studying videos of herself pushing has made Ishikawa more aware of her abdominal muscles, and she has applied that to her starting technique as a sprinter.

“This is paying dividends as a track athlete. My mechanics have improved,” Ishikawa said. “My running is completely different.”

The lone competitor in the women’s division of Japan’s national bobsleigh push championships on Aug. 24, Ishikawa’s appetite has been whetted for competition on the ice, hopefully this winter in a solo sleigh.

After graduating from Aoyama Gakuin University next spring, she hopes to continue pursuing both sports with the goal of competing in the summer and winter Olympics.

“I like roller coasters, so I’m looking forward to it,” Ishikawa said with a laugh.”