When Salomé Kora undertook her first training session as a bobsleigh athlete, two words ran through her mind: "big regrets".
It is said in laughter, as the Swiss recalls the start of her long-awaited switch to the sport. The three-time Olympic sprinter, who most recently competed in the Games at Paris 2024, had toyed with the idea for two years, and now believes her opportunity has arrived at the perfect time.
After revealing her ambitions at the 2025 World Athletics Championships in September, Kora made her bobsleigh debut two months later and 75 days out from the opening of the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026.
"It was so special, though I was aching all over," Kora told Olympics.com in German ahead of her first race in Cortina D'Ampezzo, which will host the upcoming Olympic bobsleigh competition. "It's just crazy to imagine that it really is such a small village and that the Olympic Games will take place here. That is very impressive."
The 31-year-old has teamed up with pilot Inola Blatty, a fellow sprinter who has gone into bobsleigh, in their joint pursuit to become Winter Olympians for Team Switzerland, the nation credited with inventing the sport.
Six Swiss athletes have competed at both the Summer and Winter Olympics; Should Kora make the cut on 28 December*, she would become the first Swiss woman to achieve the coveted double.
With Milano Cortina 2026 just around the corner, Kora is targeting a fairytale maiden bobsleigh season full circle back to the Dolomites.