ELON, N.C. – It wasn't until three years ago that Lauren Brzozowski began driving bobsleds. Now, she will represent the United States on some of the sport's biggest stages.
In November, Brzozowski was selected as a member of the U.S. World Cup bobsled team for the first time. She will compete in select World Cup events in 2024, beginning in January.
"I've always wanted to wear USA across my back and represent my country, I just never thought it could ever be possible until I saw that I had a skill pushing bobsleds," Brzozowski said. "It's honestly the best feeling in the world."
Brzozowski, a 2019 Elon graduate, spent four years with Elon's track & field team as a sprinter. She had a decorated career with the Phoenix, winning back-to-back CAA 4x400-meter relay championships in 2017-18 and earning All-CAA honors in either the 4x100-meter or 4x100-meter relays in each of her four seasons.
While at Elon as a runner, Brzozowski began to learn about sliding sports. She followed the career of Veronica Day '11, another Elon track & field athlete, who has had a prolific career competing in skeleton. She also knew of another track & field athlete at Towson University, Megan Kelly, who made the national bobsledding team as a brakeman.
"That was kind of the nail in the coffin to be like, 'Hey, you should really try out for sliding sports if track ever falls through,'" Brzozowski said.
Gallery: (1-4-2024) Rising Phoenix: Lauren Brzozowski
After graduating from Elon, Brzozowski went to the United Kingdom to pursue a master's degree and continue running track. Her goal was to eventually embark on a professional track career.
However, COVID-19 changed her plans, as she moved back to the United States in 2020. With sliding sports still in the back of her mind, Brzozowski's dream of becoming a professional athlete took on a new look.
Brzozowski got in touch with Day, who helped connect her with the U.S. national bobsled team coaches. She attended a virtual workout and later earned an in-person tryout with the program, where she went on to earn a spot with the USA development team.
"A lot of the training is very similar but also more intense," Brzozowski said about transitioning from track to bobsled. "If you are fast, if you are explosive, you're going to be perfect at this sport."
Brzozowski's start in the sport was unconventional. While most bobsled athletes begin as brakemen, Brzozowski was thrust into a position as a driver due to the depth the team had pushing. The opportunity allowed Brzozowski to learn the position on an accelerated curve.
"I was like, 'Put me in coach, I have fresh legs.' That's how I got in the driver's seat," Brzozowksi said.
In December. Brzozowski collected the first gold medal of her 2023-24 campaign in Park City, Utah. It was the first time she has won a gold medal as part of the U.S. national team.
Brzozowski is not fully funded by the U.S. national team, meaning she will have to split her time between World Cup, Europa Cup and North American Cup events throughout the rest of the season. Her goal is to earn enough points across the three tours to qualify for the World Championships in late February-early March.
This is also the second year in the four-year Olympic cycle as Brzozowski and her teammates are trying to develop their skills to earn a spot on Team USA's 2026 Olympic squad. Brzozowski's long-term goal is to make that team, but she is also focused on learning more tracks and further honing her abilities in the near future.
"If I'm just learning tracks, getting them down, I've got to be super proud of myself," Brzozowksi said. "Promote the sport, learn more tracks and just try to be as prepared as possible for trying to put my best foot forward to make an Olympic team one day. That's the whole reason we're all here. We want to represent the USA and see if we can bring back some hardware."
From the beginning, Brzozowski has shared her journey in bobsled on social media, building up large followings on both Instagram and TikTok. By documenting her bobsled experiences and creating content to market herself and teach fans about the sport, Brzozowski has developed a base of loyal supporters, which has motivated her further to succeed.
"I only started making TikToks because I wanted to be able to explain the sport to my family," Brzozowski laughed. "I thought [bobsledding] would have criminally low exposure rates and that people deserve to know the names of these athletes because I swear they're some of the most athletic, kind and inspiring people I've ever met."
Although she is still early in her bobsled journey, Brzozowski has seen progress in her skills and is beginning to feel more and more like she belongs on the course. As her confidence grows, she is excited about what is to come.
"All the crashes, all the late hours fixing the sled or sanding the runners and the training on top of that, it was a lot of hard work," Brzozowski said. "As I started progressing and getting closer to bringing back medals, I got a lot more comfortable. I'm really fortunate I've gotten to develop at my own pace."
Brzozowski will make her World Cup debut on Jan. 13-14 in St. Moritz, Switzerland. The event will be streamed on ESPN+.
"I really do view this as a job because I have a job to do. I have to try to bring home medals for USA, I love doing it," Brzozowksi said. "That's the best part. It doesn't feel like a job sometimes. It just feels like a privilege, one I never want to take for granted."
'Rising Phoenix' is a new student-led initiative to cover Elon Athletics. Through innovative content creation and storytelling, Elon University students will have the opportunity to highlight the moments, people and events that make an impact, leveraging the athletic department's various web and social media platforms for distribution. Follow Rising Phoenix on Twitter (@EURisingPhoenix) and Instagram (@elonrisingphoenix). Interested in joining this initiative as a content creator (video, graphics, writing, storytelling, or more)? Contact Jacob Kisamore at jkisamore@elon.edu.
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