The bobsleigh push explained: why start and finish time are linked, why sprint power is the top predictor and how to train the drive against 200 kilos.
The push start is the explosive shove that accelerates the bob over the first roughly 50 metres, and it is the one part of the race you hold directly in your hands as an athlete. It decides more than most people think: start time and finish time are measurably linked — moderately, but clearly (a correlation of around 0.48 in men, 0.63 in women) [1]. Whoever pushes faster tends to arrive at the bottom faster.
And the strongest single factor behind it is no secret technique but raw sprint power. Your maximum mechanical sprint power — Pmax for short, meaning how much force you put into the ground per unit of time — correlates most closely with push performance (around 0.80) [2]. Roughly translated: the best sprinter with the most power pushes the bob fastest.
Biomechanically the push is a sprint start against resistance. Propulsion comes mainly from hip extension — the big extensor muscles of glutes and thigh — and the faster you get, the more the ankle joint takes over as well [3]. You drive explosively forward; you do not pull the bob with your arms.
The resistance is real: an empty two-man bob weighs at least around 170 kilos, a four-man around 210 [6] — plus your crewmates. Even so, a good crew brings the sled to over 40 km/h in about five seconds before everyone loads in [7]. Five seconds flat out — that is about all the time you get to shape the race.
Your 30-metre time is one of the load-bearing determinants of push performance [2]. Train short, maximal sprints from a standstill with full recovery between them — quality over quantity. Without a fast first step, all the strength in the world won't help.
Pushing means force forward, not up. That is exactly why the standing broad jump and single-leg horizontal jumps predict your push potential well [2]. The USABS best marks in the broad jump sit around 2.21 m (men) and 1.85 m (women) [5] — a tangible target to measure against.
Propulsion comes from explosive hip extension, not from the arms [3]. Think „drive away like a sprint start": low position, long powerful stride — the arms only fix the grip, they do not pull.
Only against resistance does a sprint become a push. Sled pushes on the dry track or pushed weights transfer your power onto exactly the movement that counts [4]. That is how you get used to the 170 to 210 kilos that feel sluggish at first [6].
The best push is worthless if the load-in fails. Practise the transition from pushing to climbing in exclusively under guidance — speed plus a moving sled is no playground for self-experiments.
The push itself is the safer part of bobsleigh — it happens on the dry track or in the start area, not at 150 km/h. The real push risks are muscle injuries (above all adductors and back during the explosive drive) and the delicate moment of loading in, when you come close to the moving sled. A thorough warm-up and a gradual build protect you.
And as always in bobsleigh: this guide explains and motivates, but never replaces training with a club and federation. You learn the push at a real ice track, and every contact with the moving bob, exclusively under the guidance of qualified coaches — never on your own.
Measure two numbers and work on them deliberately: your 30-metre sprint time and your standing broad jump. These two say more about your push potential than any bench press [2][4], because they map exactly the horizontal explosiveness that moves the bob. Improve those two values over months and you almost automatically improve your push — measurably, not by feel.
The push is an explosive sprint start with which the crew accelerates the bob over the first roughly 50 metres and brings it to over 40 km/h in about five seconds [7]. Propulsion comes mainly from hip extension, and increasingly from the ankle as speed rises [3]. Then everyone climbs in and the pilot takes over.
Because start and finish time are measurably linked: whoever pushes faster tends to finish faster (a moderate correlation of around 0.48 in men, 0.63 in women) [1]. In a sport decided by hundredths, the five seconds of pushing are the part athletes directly influence.
Through sprint and horizontal explosive power. Maximum sprint power (Pmax) is the strongest single predictor of push performance [2], and standard combine events like the short sprint, broad jump and power clean predict pushing ability well [4]. So train short maximal sprints, jumps and explosive strength — plus sled pushes against real load.
Very fast: top push athletes run 100 metres under about 11 seconds [5]. Combine best marks such as 45 metres in 5.10 seconds (men) or 5.60 seconds (women) serve as orientation [5]. What matters is the combination of sprint speed and strength, not speed alone.
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