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Canwest News Service
Canada's World Cup bobsleigh team picked up a promising new running back this week.
Jesse Lumsden, the former Seattle Seahawk and Washington Redskin hopeful, and former Hamilton Tiger-Cat starter who suffered a season-ending injury in his Edmonton Eskimos debut this season, is getting a chance to earn a spot on the Canadian Olympic bobsleigh team.
Lumsden will make his World Cup debut as Pierre Lueders's brakeman in a two-man race next weekend in Winterberg, Germany.
"I'm excited to be here," the
27-year-old Lumsden said on a conference call Tuesday from Cesana, Italy, where the team races this weekend.
Edmonton's Dave Bissett will slide with Lueders this weekend.
"It's an extremely big opportunity for me to be representing my country," added Lumsden, who re-injured his shoulder after just five carries with the Esks.
"It's something I thought I'd never be able to do and to be able to race and push for Pierre and his crew is an honour.
"I'm really excited to see where we can go with this. We have a lot of really good people in our crew."
The Olympic seating plan is far from set. The team won't be named until Jan. 17, but head coach Tuffy Latour said Lumsden has an honest Olympic shot.
"He has a real chance to be an Olympian," said Latour, who explained that Lumsden will compete with Bissett for the two-man spot and against Neville Wright, also from Edmonton, for the brakeman's job in the Lueders four.
"Every guy on this team has a real chance to be an Olympian," Latour continued, referring to the men bidding to slide with Lueders and Canada 2 pilot Lyndon Rush.
"Whoever is fastest at the start will go to the Olympic Games. I mean, that's the name of the game. We're trying to put ourselves in a great position at the Olympics by having the fastest starts so we can be in medal contention at the bottom."
Lueders and Lumsden have competed together twice and won both times. Last Thursday they won a Europa Cup two-man in Konigssee, Germany. Last March in Whistler they captured the Canadian championships two-man.
"Certainly, he's going to make our team a lot stronger and a lot more competitive," said Lueders, who added that it's good to have team depth.
"One of the things that I've seen, particularly in the Olympic year, is that if you're using the same guy week in and week out, you're putting yourself at a disadvantage.
