Lauryn Williams ‘playing with the idea’ of bobsled this season

NEW YORK — Sochi silver medalist Lauryn Williams might not be done competing after all.

Williams, a three-time Olympic medalist over track and field and bobsled, said she’s at a “pivotal point” on Monday night in deciding if she wants to return to bobsledding this season.

“I’m going to have to make a decision in the next couple weeks or so and get on a formal [training] plan,” she said at NFL Hall of Famer Nick Buoniconti‘s Fund to Cure Paralysis dinner at the Waldorf Astoria hotel. “I’m not so out of shape at this point that I couldn’t be ready for a bobsled season.”

Williams, 31, became the fifth person to win Winter and Summer Olympic medals in different disciplines with her bobsled silver medal in Sochi, pushing for Elana Meyers Taylor.

She said in April, “I think I’m done with sports as an active competitor,” but did not fully commit to retiring. She did not take her name out of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency drug-testing pool.

“It has got a little twinge of, is this really the right thing [retiring], and how do you really know when you’re done, especially when you have such an awesome experience in such a short period of time [in Sochi],” said Williams, who is doing the same kind of training as she did as a sprinter and bobsledder now to stay in shape.

Williams said she is definitely done with track and field, though.

“Track is so 20 pounds ago,” she joked.

Williams said Meyers Taylor urged her to come back for a second season with U.S. Bobsled. It appears she would be the most experienced returning push athlete, with Olympians Lolo Jones and Emily Azevedo taking a break, Aja Evans moving to track and field and Katie Eberling now driving.

Williams also took up recreational rugby since coming back from Sochi. Rugby sevens makes its Olympic debut in Rio 2016, and Meyers Taylor has played for Team USA this year.

“Tackling, I can’t quite get my mind around the idea of someone jumping on me or me jumping on someone,” the 5-foot-3 Williams said. “Elana peer pressures me into everything.

“I’m toeing the line of do I even want to play recreationally. I’m not even thinking about the Olympics right now.”


(olympictalk.nbcsports.com)