PS woman changes country for bobsleigh dream: Simona De Silvestro hopes Italy will start at the Olympics

class=”sc-29f61514-0 fwWrRV”>

Simona De Silvestro (35) is one of the fastest women in the world, having accelerated in Sauber’s Formula 1 car and driven at 380 km/h six times in the infamous 500 mile race in Indianapolis.

But the racing driver is pursuing a very big dream in addition to her racing career. De Silvestro wants to participate in the Olympic Games. And in a bob. She has been training and practicing on the control ropes for two years and has also competed in SM.

The fast woman takes her crazy sports project very seriously. De Silvestro will make her European Cup debut in Lillehammer at the end of November. But not as a Swiss: she changed countries for her big Olympic dream and now races around the ice rink as an Italian.

Better setting and better qualification chances in Italy

“From this winter onwards, it will slowly but surely become a topic of discussion when it comes to qualifying for the 2026 Games,” De Silvestro told Blick. «Because I want to achieve my goals, I made a down-to-earth plan in the summer. It turned out that the Italian association is set up differently than that in Switzerland. Swiss Sliding has helped me a lot so far, but now Italy suits my needs better.”

Despite the Swiss association Swiss Sliding, bobsleigh pilots are traditionally quite autonomous and organize a lot themselves, but in Italy bobsleigh falls under the umbrella of FISI, the winter sports association. As a new A-team member in Italy, De Silvestro will, for example, be provided with appropriate sprint training and pushers. She would have had to organize this independently in Switzerland.

In the two-man bobsleigh she hopes for better starting times thanks to a strong Italian pusher. “Without an athletics history and at my age, I will no longer be a sprint rocket,” says the Zurich resident with a smile.

De Silvestro was already karting as an Italian

Changing nations is also a tactic. In Switzerland, it is unlikely that the second Olympic place will go to a career changer next to the practically placed Melanie Hasler (25). However, in Italy they are behind the Football World Cup. Giada Andreutti (28) everything is open.

For De Silvestro it is a return to her roots. Her father’s family is from Italy, she speaks the language well and drove karts in Italy for many years at the beginning of her motorsport career. As an Italian. The upcoming performances in the European Bobsleigh Cup will now show whether the PS woman can actually continue to dream of selection for the Olympic Games.

Source : Blick