Herndon Man Takes Gold in Para-Bobsled World Cup Races

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While serving in the Army, Jason Sturm lost the lower part of his left leg in a training accident in 2002. Today, he helps other amputees get in shape by leading a nonprofit group called the Crossroads Adaptive Athletic Alliance.

Recently, he took his passion to the world of winter sports, becoming a member of the U.S. para-bobsledding team. And on Jan. 31, Sturm became the first para-bobsled World Cup champion in a competition in St. Moritz, Switzerland, according to the Washington Post.

A Herndon resident, Sturm trained in Canada with a British para-bobsledder for the World Cup races, serving as a pusher and brakeman in a two-man sled. But when they traveled to Europe for the competition, they discovered that the World Cup organizers wanted to race only one-man bobsleds, to help the sport win acceptance into the 2018 Winter Paralympics.

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“I showed up having never driven a bobsled,” Sturm told the Post. “Nobody thought I would end up on the podium. I was just floored.”

When he’s not racing bobsleds, Sturm and a business partner teach a seminar to athletic trainers and therapists on coaching amputees for athletic competitions.

Image: The Box magazine cover, Aug. 2014