President of the Jamaica Bobsled and Skeleton Federation (JBSF) Chris Stokes says the organisation has been encouraged by the response to its ongoing recruitment drive, with the goal being to add to its ranks ahead of the 2022 Beijing Games.

At current, the women’s team is represented by Olympians Jazmine Fenlator-Victorian, former track athletes Carrie Russell and Audra Segree.

However, with the world still in the midst of the pandemic, heading into a long gruelling season and Olympic qualifiers on the horizon Stokes points out that the goal is to build a deep squad.

“Both Carrie as a pilot and Jazmine as a pilot have to race both in the mono bob and the two-man bob that’s just how the qualification process is set up.  So that means that each will have to have a brake woman and as of now, outside of Audra Segree, we have not identified that quality athlete yet,” Stokes told SportsMax.TV.

“It’s also a long season, we may not want to race, for example, Audra in every single race. We might need to rest her from time to time, in which case we need a deep bench,” he added.

The first viewing of potential recruits, in Jamaica, took place last week with another viewing scheduled for Friday.  Athletes making the cut are expected to be selected on Saturday.

“The response has been good so far.  Interestingly, quite a bit of response from overseas and a lot of athletes locally.  There is some trepidation you can understand.  It is a rough sport, it can be a dangerous sport.  People get beat up, Carrie has some scars on her shoulder from a crash.  You can’t make it seem easier than it is, but at the same time, it’s a fun sport.  There is the opportunity to go to the Olympics and be part of one of the premier sports brands in the world.”