Dec 12 (Reuters) - Swiss Olympic sprinter Salome Kora is looking to make the most of her explosive speed as she bids to compete for her nation in the bobsleigh competition at next year's Milano Cortina Winter Games.
The shift from athletics to bobsleigh is a well-trodden path, with Germany's Alexandra Burghardt and American Lauryn Williams having won medals in both sports in the past.
Kora will compete as a brakewoman in the two-woman bob with pilot Inola Blatty, who is also a sprinter making the same transition.
The 31-year-old competed in the 100 metres in the Summer Olympics in 2016, 2021 and 2024, and finished seventh in the semi-finals at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo earlier this year.
"I'm not that talented in sports, except that I can run fast," Kora told Olympics.com in an interview published on Thursday.
"That's why I think bobsleigh was the only option. It really is true, you see this sprint-bobsleigh combination quite often, so that was the obvious choice. The reason why I'm doing this is of course the physical part."
Kora made her World Cup debut at the season opener in Cortina d'Ampezzo in November, finishing 11th with Blatty. The pair improved on that performance with an eighth-placefinish in Innsbruck, Austria a week later.
"It's a huge opportunity to get a feel of a completely different sport at a high level," Kora said.
"I'm starting now and can be part of the World Cup right away - I don't think that is possible in any other sport - so I really wanted to seize this opportunity."
Kora said she would continue to compete as a sprinter after the Winter Olympics and has her sights set on racing in the Swiss Indoor Athletics Championships immediately after the Games.
"That's a week after the Olympic Games," she added.
"The sprint level in Switzerland is so high that I can't afford to take a break. I don't think I can do both long term, my body would probably not hold up. I'm still a track and field athlete."
(Reporting by Aadi Nair in Nashik, India; Editing by Kate Mayberry)
