Moscow (RWH) Alexandra Rodionova, who came sixth in the luge at the 2010 Olympics, will be trying her hand at the helm of a bobsleigh next winter. The 30-year-old, who also competed in the 2006 Turin Olympics four years before Vancouver, failed to qualify for the Winter Games in Sochi (RUS) this year when her ticket to the Olympics was taken at the last minute by Natalia Khoreva. Khoreva had won a surprise victory in the European Championships in Sigulda (LAT) just before the Games began, and thus qualified for a place on the Russian team.

A number of former female lugers have gone on to success in the bobsleigh, including Gerda Weißensteiner (ITA), who won the 1994 Olympics in the luge and later collected a bronze medal in the women's bobsleigh at the 2006 Olympics, or Germany’s Sandra Kiriasis, who won Bronze at the junior world championships 1993 in the luge and then went on to take gold in the women's bobsleigh at the 2006 Olympics.