Skeleton crew

Keslie Tomlinson, with family from Ashtabula County, makes no bones about trying to make U.S. Olympic team

TOM HARRIS

What if Keslie Tomlinson’s college friend had decided to complete the application for an internship with the U.S. Olympic Committee and not given it to Tomlinson?

What if Tomlinson, with the application deadline a week away, had opted not to pursue the internship, which eventually led to a job with the media staff at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City? And what if Tomlinson hadn’t had the chance to watch the Skeleton racers up close while at the 2002 Winter Games?

If things had gone differently, Tomlinson probably wouldn’t be the 2009 Skeleton racing Woman Athlete of the Year. And she would probably be spending her summer doing something other than preparing to compete for a spot on the Skeleton racing team that will represent the U.S. at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Skeleton racers look a little like kids on their Flexible Flyers, except Skeleton racers wear helmets and sleek, aerodynamically designed suits. They also have to maintain control of their sleds as they approach speeds of 80 miles an hour and battle pressure five times that of gravity.

“I didn’t grow up dreaming of becoming a skeleton racer,” Tomlinson said from Lake Placid, N.Y., where she is training for the U.S. National team trials, which begin in October.

The top three women at the national trials will be named to the World Cup Team. The next three become members of the International Cup Team.

“Any of those six athletes have a chance to be in the Olympics,” Tomlinson said. “I have to perform well in the five races in October and then wait until Jan. 20, when they announce the Olympic team.”

Tomlinson, 28, was born in Akron and currently lives in Potomac Falls, Va. But she has ties to Ashtabula County. Her grandparents, Donald and Janet Wyman, both now deceased, lived in Conneaut from the early 1950s until 1979. Her mother, Gail, was also a Conneaut resident and taught first grade at Chestnut Elementary for a while.

Growing up, Tomlinson was active in what she calls “some of the B sports.” She rode horses, participated in gymnastics and played soccer among other things. At Oldfields School, in Glencoe, Md., where she graduated in 1999, Tomlinson was a member of the field hockey team for four years and played lacrosse for two years.

“I was in pretty good shape,” she said.

After high school, she went to Denison University, in Granville, graduating in 2003 with a degree in Physical Education and Sports Management. One day during Tomlinson’s sophomore year, Allison Nickle, a college friend, handed her an application for an internship with the United States Olympic Committee. Nickle had decided not to apply and thought Tomlinson might be interested.

Tomlinson was excited, but with the application deadline only a week away, she was worried about her ability to get everything together. With the help of her academic advisor, Tomlinson submitted the application on time. She was awarded an internship and spent four months at the Colorado Springs Olympic Training Center working with the 2012 Bid Cities department, which was winnowing the list of U.S. cities that hoped to bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics.

That experience helped her secure a job with the USOC media staff at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Skeleton racing returned to the Olympics that year for the first time since 1948. A Home Depot commercial at the time included scenes of Skeleton racing, and Tomlinson thought it looked interesting. So, armed with her media credentials, she went to a practice session at the Olympics and was smitten.

“I was blown away by the whole atmosphere of the sport,” Tomlinson said. “I just wanted to try it. I got some information and got involved.”

Tomlinson got on a Skeleton sled for the first time in 2003.

“They start you on a low hill, so I wasn’t going 80 miles an hour,” she said. “But, I still couldn’t believe how fast you went. It was like a combination of sledding and riding a roller coaster.”

Her first experience from the top of the hill might not have been an unqualified success, but it was an unforgettable trip.

“My sled was all over the place. I was running into walls, and there was a lot of pressure on my neck,” she said. “I wondered if I was supposed to be doing this. I was nervous and excited. I couldn’t describe the feeling; it was just weird.”

In 2004, Tomlinson earned a spot on the National Team. She competed in the World Championships for the first time during the 2007-08 season, finishing 13th. During the 2008-09 season she competed in two World Cups, and she placed 16th at the 2009 World Championships.

The Skeleton sled is low to the ground and extends from about the rider’s shoulders to her knees, around three-and-a-half feet long. The sleds are custom built for each racer, and they cost in the neighborhood of $8,000. Despite the name, Skeleton racing isn’t a morbid pursuit. The term comes from the structure of the sled.

“The sleds are very safe,” Tomlinson said. “They’re covered with lots of padding. The sleds are really very simple, and if you peel back the padding, there is a saddle-like structure that looks like a rib cage.

“That’s where the name Skeleton comes from. It has nothing to with what you’re going to turn into if you try it.”

August might seem like a strange time to practice on a sled. There aren’t any tracks where the Skeleton racers can go and enjoy the snow and ice. But, Skeleton racing is a sport in which just a hundredth of a second can make a huge difference. The emphasis at this time of year is on the start of the race, those few seconds before the racers jump on the sled.

“We have in-season and out-of-season training,” Tomlinson said.. “In the summer, there are no tracks with ice anywhere. But we have about a 30-meter sprint at the start of the race, which is crucial for the speed and acceleration it gives you.

“Right now, we’re training for the first five seconds of the race. We train like elite sprinters and weightlifters. It’s very hard work.”

Tomlinson has also took time this summer to get involved in the high-tech aspects of the sport. In Lake Placid recently, she had her first experience in a wind tunnel. The purpose was to study the aerodynamics of such things as sled position, helmets and speed suits.

“Let’s just say we worked with some awesome ‘geeks,’” Tomlinson wrote on her Web site, www.GoKeslie.com. “Most of the things they talked about sounded like an entirely different language, which had to be translated many times over.”

Once tracks with ice are available, the racers can work on the other aspects of the sport. The work doesn’t get any easier going down the track. But it is a whole lot more exciting.

“We can pull up to five Gs,” Tomlinson said. “It’s a weird feeling. You just kind of look forward and try to hold the line. Some things you can’t control, and some times you put your face on the ice. We know we have to do everything we can to get speed.”

The problem is controlling the sled while traveling at high speeds. The racer has to be alert and be able to act and react in a fraction of a second.

“Our sleds are very flexible, and you can turn them by moving,” Tomlinson said. “You can steer with your head, your shoulders, your knees. And you have to know when you’re in position to make the most efficient move. You’ve got to be sharp and able to move quickly; a hundredth of a second can make all the difference.”

Skimming along at high speeds can bring some surprises. To this point, at least, Tomlinson has avoided serious mishaps.

“I’m one of the few people I know who have not lost a sled,” she said. “But everyone gets a few bumps and scrapes. Still, it's a pretty safe sport.”

The competition for a spot on the U.S. Olympic team is intense. The U.S. has some of the best Skeleton racers in the world, but Germany, Great Britain and Canada also have top-flight programs.

“It’s definitely a full-time job,” Tomlinson said of the training regimen. “I’ve lived and trained at the Olympic facilities in Lake Placid, Colorado Springs and Chula Vista, Ca. We train six or seven days a week. We have to.

“It’s all about shaving a little time. Any thing that can increase your speed by one percent might make the difference between winning a medal and not. Our goal is to represent our country the best we can.”

Hard work? Yes. Exciting and fun? That too.

“For me, it’s being able to compete,” Tomlinson said. “You work so hard to prepare, and then it’s your time to shine.

“You focus so hard on that minute you’re going down the mountain. You might hit the wall or get scuffed up if you’re not ready. But you’ve got so much adrenaline and you’re going so fast. It’s just such a rush, and it’s never the same twice.”

Tomlinson put her academic aspirations on hold in order to train for a possible spot on the Olympic team. After the Olympics, however, she plans to return to Northwestern University to complete her work on a master’s degree in Sports Management. She hopes to be able to work in the sports industry, perhaps in sports marketing.

For now, Tomlinson is focused on going to the Olympics to compete in a sport she fell in love with just over seven years ago. As she writes on her Web site: “I suppose the moral of my story is… the next time you are faced with a small decision, take a minute and stop and think about where it could lead you.”

Tomlinson’s decision could lead her to Vancouver.



Harris is a freelance writer from Ashtabula Township.

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