Broncos NRLW star Ash Werner is making a shock return to bobsleigh, admitting she has unfinished business in the sport.
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The 32 year old has put her NRLW career on hold to focus on her bid to make the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan but it’s a path she never thought we would never walk again.
“Never in a million years did I expect to be gearing up for another big Olympic season. I can absolutely say that with the most transparency,” Werner told foxsports.com.au.
Werner has teamed up with Sarah Blizzard in the two-man bobsleigh, recently returning from a four-month stint where they competed on the World Cup Series and at two Europa Cup races with a best place finish of seventh.
It was an off the cuff comment last year that saw Werner return to the sport. Having missed the entire NRLW season with a lisfanc foot injury, she was chatting to Blizzard and jokingly said she can help out with training.
“I said, you know, you’ve been doing amazing. I’ve been watching and supporting you 100 per cent and if you need an extra set of legs for the season, let me know, because I don’t want to finish my year on an injury.” Werner said.
“And then she kind of messaged me a day or two later and said, ‘Hey, we were you being serious? Because if yes, I could use you for the first four weeks of season’.”
That four weeks turned into the whole season and now a passionate pursuit of the upcoming Olympics.
It’ll be Werner’s third Olympic campaign with the other two ending in cruel and heartbreaking circumstances. And she admits there’s still some hurt there.
“I think there’s such a level of grief that comes out with missing out on an Olympic Games,” she said.
“You’ve given everything, you sacrifice so much, you’ve paid your own way, and you’ve put your life on hold. And I think every athlete can understand, every person can understand that to some extent.”
Werner’s first Olympic campaign was in preparation for the 2018 Winter Games. Her three-woman team qualified for the Olympics and met the international criteria but in a controversial move the now-defunct governing body at the time, Sliding Sports Australia, didn’t allow them to compete claiming they didn’t meet their own higher criteria.
Fast forward to 2022 and Werner teamed up with cross-fit legend and Weightlifting Olympian Tia-Clair Toomey in the two-woman bobsleigh. It was their sled’s results which earned Australia a place at the Olympics but Werner contracted covid heading into the last event ruling them out of the competition. It pushed them back in the national rankings (combined rankings with two-woman bobsleigh and monobob) and selectors decided to take the other Australian crew at the time.
“It was just like a comical series of horrible things that just always happened,” she said.
“And looking back, obviously there’s still a lot of that pain and sadness, but I wouldn’t be where I am now if that hadn’t happened. I got to play NRL which is amazing, and I got to live in Brisbane, live in Queensland for a bit, which I loved.
“And, you know, I got to meet my partner. And so many amazing things have come from that.”
And Werner says it’s her time in rugby league which has helped her be stronger this time round.
“I think my time in the NRW has really helped me, as a person and an athlete, realise what I’m capable of…and I’ve come out of that experience such a different athlete that I feel like I’m not even the same person I was last time I was in bobsled,” Werner said.
“And now, instead of looking at it as I’m not achieving X or I’m not achieving Y, I’m thinking kind of every day that I’m really lucky to have the opportunity to keep doing what I love and keep pushing myself, and that’s exciting for me. I’m doing this now because I love it, and I love being in a sled, and I love being in the winter, and I love training rather than trying to prove something.”
She’s physically tougher too from her time in the NRLW, running faster now (even after the injury) than when she was at her peak fitness before she left Bobsleigh.
“I was really surprised when I stepped back on ice and I was pushing well, I hadn’t done any technical sprinting in like three years, and it just kind of felt natural,” she said.
“Running on grass is very different than technical sprinting, but it the long contact time on grass stimulates long contact time on ice when you’re pushing and lifting in the gym for footy was really good at just keeping my body strong.”
Werner is back in Australia and has returned to full time work in a bid to overcome the next challenge. Along with Blizzard (a former sprinter and Stawell Gift finalist) they’re trying to earn more money and fundraise to pay for new equipment and in particular a new set of runners (blades) for their sled, setting up a donation page with the Australian Sports Foundation.
“Teams will generally have a different set of runners for each track and all different weather conditions and we have one set of runners that we use for training and racing,” she said.
“They’re old. They’ve been passed down from driver to driver. I think they’re at least 10 years old.”
Werner and Blizzard hope to return to Europe mid-year too for a push-camp with Australia lacking training facilities for bobsleigh.
“In Europe they have ice houses, so it’s an indoor facility that’s iced up that has bobsled tracks that simulate the start, and they also have them on dry land,” she said.
The new equipment and training would increase their chances of performing well. Their fate all comes down to next season’s results but Australia has the chance to qualify two sleds for the Olympics.
If they do that, it would be the first time Australia has had two women’s sleds qualify.
It would make history.
It would no doubt make it all worth it.
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