General News
23 February, 2026
Blizzard completes maiden Olympics
Ararat's Sarah Blizzard has completed her first Olympics, finishing 21st in the two-woman bobsleigh.
This was the first time Australia had more than one team in the event. Bree Walker and Kiara Reddingius finished 10th.
Blizzard, the pilot on her team, competed with brakeman Desi Johnson.
After day one, they were in 19th place. By day two, they finished 21st and missed the final by only 0.02 seconds.
Blizzard’s first run took 58.07 seconds, only 1.15 seconds slower than the fastest time that round.
After two heats, her combined time was 1:55.98, which was just 2.05 seconds behind the leaders.
After heat three, Blizzard's combined time was 2:54.40, just 3.21 seconds off the number one team at that point, Deborah Levi and Laura Nolte.
Only the 20 fastest teams moved on to the final round.
Blizzard was elated with how her team performed, but said it was hard to miss out on the fourth round.
"Being so close to the Top 20 is a huge thing," she said after the event.
"At the World Cup, we are always on the cusp of being in that Top 20 or not, and the season before, I wasn't making that Top 20.
"I think for us, that is a big step... we are competing against these massive teams that have endless amounts of money and support, and we are little old Australia, with a group of us, with just our family and friends supporting us.
"So I think that is pretty bloody amazing!"
Blizzard had told Wimmera Mallee News before the event about challenges on the track, including the fourth turn. Still, after competing, she was praised for her composure as she navigated the obstacle.
"That corner four is annoying me a bit," she laughed.
"I think I had a different problem every time I was trying to fix it, and a different problem would come out.
"As I said, this track is hard to be consistent on (and) I did get corner nine better than I did yesterday, so I will take that, it's just corner four."
Germany's Levi and Nolte won the event with a time of 3:48.46 across all four runs.
Fellow countrywoman Lisa Buckwitz and Neele Schuten finished with silver (3:48.99), while America's Jasmin Jones and Kaillie Armbruster Humphries finished third (3:49.21).