PyeongChang 2018 – Jamaica’s bobsled driving coach Sandra Kiriasis has left the team just days before competition begins in Pyeongchang.

 

Jamaica’s bobsled driving coach Sandra Kiriasis has left the team just days before competition begins in Pyeongchang. The coach’s departure will not affect the team’s participation in the games, despite previous reports that the team’s equipment, including the sled, belonged to Kiriasis.

A Jamaican bobsled rep said the woman’s team would not be affected by the coach’s departure, and would be using the same equipment.

Jo Manning and Dudley Stokes are the head coaches of the team. They remain on board. According to the bobsled rep, the team will continue in the driving coach’s absence.

The BBC reported Kirasis, who was an Olympic bobsled champion for Germany in 2006, refused a request to change roles from driving coach to track performance analyst, which would have given her no access to the athletes. The BBC also reported the news that the sled belonged to Kirasis.

Jamaican officials denied that information.

This will be the first women’s team to compete for Jamaica at the Winter Games. Jazmine Fenlator-Victorian will pilot the sled with teammate Carrie Russell. The men have sent six teams, including the squad that inspired the movie “Cool Runnings.”

You can watch the women’s bobsled on Feb. 21