Intense drama and the highest athletic skills will be on display this evening when women's bobsled competition makes its debut as an Olympic sport.
As athletes from throughout the world go for the gold, millions will watch to learn whether America's top pilot, Jean Racine, made a great choice or the mistake of her life when she fired long-time partner Jen Davidson of Layton.
The women had been best friends as well as the World Cup team that won two consecutive world titles. But in December brakeman Davidson began to falter.
Her push times dropped, and Racine (Waterford, Mich.) replaced her with a former track star new to bobsledding, Gea Johnson of Phoenix, Ariz. Together, Racine and Davidson set a track record at the Utah Olympic Park.
But Johnson suffered a hamstring injury in a race. Recently her start times have plummeted drastically during training runs. In one trial, the pair came in 13th of 15 sleds. But on Sunday, Matt Roy, director of the U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation, said Johnson had no plans to remove herself from Olympic competition.
Spectators will be watching to see if Johnson can overcome the pain and launch the American women into the first gold in the sport. Also in the forefront will be Jill Bakken, Park City, and her new brakeman, Vonetta Flowers of Birmingham, Ala.
If the American women can't put it together, there's always the chance that the Germans may do to the women's side of bobsledding what they did in the men's two-man bob competition on Sunday: take the gold. Two powerful German teams piloted by Sandra Prokoff and Susi-Lisa Erdmann have picked up a slew of medals in World Cup races.
Unlike the two days of racing in men's bobsledding, this drama will be over in just two hours: The event starts at 4:30 p.m. and ends at 6:30.