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Men's Track's Evan Weinstock '14 Earns Spot in Olympics with USA Bobsled
1/15/2018 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track & Field
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Brown University men's track & field alumnus Evan Weinstock '14 has earned a spot on the 2018 U.S. Olympic Team in the sport of bobsled, USA Bobsled and Skeleton announced on Monday afternoon.
Weinstock represents one of 12 male bobsledders named to Team USA at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in South Korea in February. Of the 12 bobsledders, the majority participated in collegiate track and field and/or football. Weinstock will make his Olympic debut at the PyeongChang Games.
• Evan Weinstock: Team USA Bio
• USA Bobsled: Men's Olympic Team Announcement
"College sports really helped me adapt to the national-level speed," Weinstock said. "You're racing against some of the best people in America and the world. That really helped me when I got to bobsled – to be ready for competition against the world. In the NCAA, you have to balance an academic with athletic lifestyle, so you try to really prioritize your time and make sure you are making good time-management decisions."
A four-time Ivy League champion for Brown, Weinstock won the decathlon title at the Ivy League Outdoor Heptagonal Championships in 2011, 2013, and 2014 and claimed the heptathlon championship at the 2013 Indoor Heptagonal Championships. A captain as a senior for the Bears, he holds the school record in the decathlon (7,393 points) and ranks second in school history in the pentathlon (5,296 points).
"Brown allowed me to explore my academic interests at the highest level while I also competed against the top athletes in the country," Weinstock said. "The open curriculum gave me the opportunity to explore every aspect of science and develop my specific interests organically. Brown also helped introduce me to people from all backgrounds, which allowed me to listen and learn to become a well-rounded individual."
Serving as a member of the push-crew in a four-man sled, Weinstock will race with pilot Codie Bascue as well as fellow push members Steve Langton and Sam McGuffie. Weinstock will also race as the brakeman in a two-man sled with pilot Justin Olsen.
Weinstock was named USABS' "MVP" following his first year on the national team in 2016-17 and has since become one of the team's top push athletes. This year, he helped push fellow Olympian Justin Olsen to his first-ever World Cup medal as a pilot, a bronze in the two-man race in Lake Placid, N.Y.
"I am looking forward to competing on the same team as the best athletes in the world," Weinstock said. "The Olympic stage is the ultimate destination for the greatest athletes in the world. Walking and competing among them will truly be special."
The U.S. is one of three nations to qualify three sleds in both two-man and four-man bobsled.
The U.S. has claimed 19 Olympic medals in men's bobsled since 1928. Holcomb collected three of those medals over the last eight years; four-man gold at the 2010 Vancouver Games, and bronze medals in both two-man and four-man at the 2014 Sochi Games. Holcomb's gold was the first U.S. bobsled gold medal since 1948. His two-man bronze medal in Sochi was the first for the U.S. in the discipline since 1952. The last time the U.S. team garnered two medals in one Games was at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games, when Brian Shimer, who is now the program's head coach, finally broke through with a bronze medal in four-man in his fifth Olympic Winter Games appearance. He was bested by teammate Todd Hays, who earned silver.
The Olympic bobsled and skeleton events are held in a four-heat format over two days of racing with two heats on each day. The two-man competition will take place Feb. 18-19, and four-man races Feb. 24-25.
The PyeongChang Games kick off February 9 and will conclude February 25. Bobsled will be contested February 18-25, and competition will be held at the Olympic Sliding Centre in the PyeongChang Mountain Cluster.
Final selections to the 2018 U.S. Olympic Team are subject to U.S. Olympic Committee approval; the full team will be announced at the end of January.
