Bobsled · Careers
How to build a bobsleigh career from Nigeria
From the sprint track to the ice: how Nigeria finds sliders, how Olympic places are won, how athletes pay for it, and advice from Africa's first Olympic bobsleigh team.
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Careers in bobsleigh
Your road from the track to the ice
Nigeria has no snow and no ice track. Yet in February 2018 three Nigerian women became Africa's first Olympic bobsleigh team, and a fourth became the first African woman in Olympic skeleton. They did it by turning sprinting speed into sliding speed, by training on a wooden sled built in a Houston garage, and by raising their own money. Their story proves that a winter sport career is possible from Nigeria, and it shows exactly how hard it is.
This page is written for young sprinters and jumpers, their parents and coaches, and anyone curious about a career in sliding sport. It explains where bobsleigh athletes come from, how Nigeria selects them, how the Olympic qualification system works, how athletes pay for a very expensive sport, and the jobs around it. Every fact was checked on 1 October 2026.
The honest truth first: bobsleigh is an expensive sport, and one of the hardest for a Nigerian athlete to reach. All of Nigeria's Winter Olympians so far grew up or trained in North America or Europe. But the Bobsled and Skeleton Federation of Nigeria now runs push championships at home, and the door it opened in 2018 is still open.
Career facts · Checked 1 October 2026
Nigerian bobsleigh careers in numbers
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2018
Africa's first Olympic bobsleigh team
Nigeria's women finished 19th at PyeongChang.
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$75k
Raised by crowdfunding
Nigeria's 2018 team paid for its own equipment.
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40
Athletes at the 2023 push championships
The 5th National Push Championships, Lagos.
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26th
Adeagbo's 2026 Olympic ranking
One place short of Milano Cortina.
The pathway at a glance
Six stages from sprinter to Winter Olympian
Bobsleigh is a late-start sport: most athletes switch from athletics as adults. Simidele Adeagbo started skeleton at 36.
School years
Sprint, jump and lift
Every Nigerian bobsledder so far started in track and field: sprints, hurdles or jumps. Speed off the mark is the key skill.
Late teens
Build power in the gym
A good push athlete is a fast sprinter with real strength. Train with a qualified athletics or strength coach.
Adult
National push championships
The BSFN tests push athletes at home. In 2023, 40 athletes took part in the 5th National Push Championships in Lagos.
Adult
First runs on ice, abroad
New athletes learn on a real track abroad, usually as a brakeman or brakewoman pushing a sled driven by an experienced pilot.
Adult
International races and ranking
North America Cup, EuroCup and World Cup races earn the ranking that decides Olympic places.
Adult
Winter Olympics, or a career beside the track
Pilots, push athletes, coaches and medical staff all have a role.
Step by step
Seven steps to a bobsleigh career
Follow these in order. Speed comes first, then the federation, then the ice.
Become a fast, powerful sprinter first
Every bobsleigh run begins with the crew sprinting behind the sled before jumping in, so start speed matters. That is why every Nigerian Olympian in sliding sport came from athletics. Seun Adigun ran the 100m hurdles at the London 2012 Olympics. Ngozi Onwumere won African Games 4x100m relay gold in 2015. Akuoma Omeoga sprinted for the University of Minnesota, and Simidele Adeagbo was a four-time NCAA All-American triple jumper. Read our athletics careers guide: it is the first half of a bobsleigh career.
Contact the federation and enter a push championship
The Bobsled and Skeleton Federation of Nigeria (BSFN) was founded on 28 December 2016 as Africa's first bobsleigh federation. Its president is Solomon Ogba and its technical director is Seun Adigun herself. The federation holds National Push Championships in Nigeria to find athletes; 40 took part in the fifth edition in Lagos in 2023. Ask the BSFN when the next one is, and arrive with your best sprint times.
Learn the roles in a sled
Bobsleigh has one-person (monobob), two-person and four-person sleds. The pilot steers; the brakeman or brakewoman pushes hard at the start and stops the sled at the finish. In skeleton, a separate sport on the same tracks, one athlete slides head-first on a small sled. Most newcomers start as push athletes. Becoming a pilot takes many runs on real ice under expert coaching.
Get on the ice, safely
Nigeria has no ice track, so every Nigerian slider learns abroad. Before PyeongChang, Nigeria's women trained on a wooden practice sled, the Maeflower, built by Adigun in Houston, and borrowed sleds at Utah Olympic Park for their qualifying races. Only slide on an official track under a qualified coach.
Race for ranking points
Olympic places are decided by results and rankings in international races. In 2017 Nigeria's women finished their fifth qualifying race on 16 November, the minimum needed for the Olympics, and were ranked 44th in the world. At PyeongChang they finished 19th in 3:29.60 over four runs. Since then, Simidele Adeagbo has gone further on the circuit: a EuroCup monobob win in Winterberg in 2022, the first international sled race win by an African; Nigeria's first World Cup races in St. Moritz in January 2025; and, with brakewoman Kewe King, Nigeria's first two-woman medal at a North America Cup race in Park City.
Aim for the Winter Olympics
The next Winter Games are in 2030. Qualification is tight: Adeagbo was ranked 26th for Milano Cortina 2026 in women's monobob and missed out by a single place, because only the top 25 qualified. Nigeria has competed at three Winter Games in a row (2018, 2022 and 2026). See our Winter Olympics page for every result.
Build a career that outlasts the sled
Nigeria's sliding pioneers all built careers off the ice. Adigun became a Doctor of Chiropractic and the BSFN's technical director. Adeagbo worked for Nike and founded the SimiSleighs Foundation. Keep studying, because a degree in sports science, physiotherapy or management can keep you in the sport for life.
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Money
Paying for it: the honest picture
Bobsleigh is an expensive sport, above all because of equipment, travel and time on the ice abroad. These are the funding facts we could verify.
| How athletes paid | What we could verify | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Crowdfunding | Nigeria's 2018 women's team raised $75,000 through GoFundMe over 14 months to pay for equipment | The Daily Cougar and CNN, 2017 to 2018 |
| Self-funding | The 2018 team was self-funded, without financial support from Nigerian authorities | Wikipedia, Nigeria bobsled team |
| Sponsorship | Their fundraising led to a sponsorship with Team Visa; Adeagbo was sponsored by her employer, Nike, in 2018 | The Daily Cougar; SitesNG |
| Grants | Adeagbo's SimiSleighs Foundation runs an athlete grant programme | New York Amsterdam News, February 2025 |
| Salaries | No salary or prize-money figure for Nigerian sliders is published | SitesNG |
What this means for you: plan for bobsleigh as a part-time, self-funded pursuit at first, built on a job, a scholarship or study abroad. Results and a good story bring sponsors, as Nigeria's 2018 team showed, but nobody should expect a salary from sliding.
Beyond the sled
Careers around sliding sport
Even if you never drive a sled at the Olympics, sliding sport needs people with real skills. These roles also suit athletes after their competing days.
| Career | How to start | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Sprint and strength coach | Qualify as an athletics or strength and conditioning coach: push athletes need both. | Every Nigerian slider so far came from track and field. |
| Sports medicine | Study physiotherapy, chiropractic or sports medicine. | Seun Adigun, a Doctor of Chiropractic, was Nigeria's team doctor and flag bearer at Beijing 2022. |
| Administrator | Volunteer with the BSFN at push championships. | Adigun became the federation's technical director. |
| Foundation and community work | Use your story to open doors for others. | Adeagbo's SimiSleighs Foundation runs a leadership programme for girls in Lagos. |
Women in sliding
A sport Nigerian women opened up
Nigerian bobsleigh is a women's story. The three women of 2018 were the first African bobsleigh team at any Olympic Games, and Simidele Adeagbo became the first African woman and first Black woman in Olympic skeleton. Ngozi Onwumere carried Nigeria's flag at the PyeongChang opening ceremony.
- Adeagbo took up skeleton in September 2017 and raced at the Olympics only five months later, finishing 20th.
- She has since become a monobob pilot, the first African bobsleigh athlete at an IBSF World Championships (2024).
- Her SimiSleighs Foundation runs a leadership programme for girls in Lagos.
Girls who sprint and jump: your speed could take you somewhere very few Africans have been. Parents: the route goes through athletics first, so a good school athletics programme is the right starting point.
Stay safe
Safety, anti-doping and avoiding bad deals
Bobsleigh is fast and physical. Protect your body and your record.
Safety on the ice
Only slide on official tracks, under qualified coaches, wearing the approved helmet and race suit. Learn the start and the brake before you think about steering, and never accept a ride in a sled from an unqualified driver.
Anti-doping
President Bola Tinubu signed Nigeria's National Anti-Doping Act in April 2025. It created the Nigeria Anti-Doping Centre to apply the World Anti-Doping Code, with testing in and out of competition. Check every supplement and medicine before you use it, and tell every doctor that you are a competitive athlete.
Before you pay anyone
- Confirm any “trial”, camp or training trip abroad directly with the Bobsled and Skeleton Federation of Nigeria.
- Never pay a stranger for a “guaranteed” Olympic place: places are earned through races and rankings.
- Get written details of who pays for travel, accommodation, sled hire and coaching before you travel.
- Do not travel abroad for a sport camp without a valid visa and a named organiser your family has spoken to.
Advice from the stars
What Nigeria's sliding pioneers want you to know
Every quote below was checked word for word against the outlet named under it. We add one practical lesson to each.
Fear is really just another opportunity to learn.
Seun AdigunFounder and pilot of Nigeria's 2018 Olympic bobsleigh team
CNN, 29 December 2017The lesson: Every new sport is frightening at first: treat each run as a lesson.
You never know you can succeed unless you try.
Ngozi Onwumere2018 Olympic brakewoman and African Games relay champion
Quoted by The Daily Cougar, 24 January 2018The lesson: Turn up to the push championship, even if you have never seen a sled.
Your dream might not look the way you originally envisioned it. Be open to reimagining different ways to achieve your goal.
Simidele AdeagboOlympic skeleton racer turned monobob pilot
BusinessDay, 27 January 2025The lesson: A triple jumper became a slider: your talent may fit a sport you have not tried yet.
There is more history to be made.
Simidele AdeagboOn Nigeria's first World Cup season in bobsleigh
New York Amsterdam News, 6 February 2025The lesson: Nigerian winter sport is only beginning: the next first could be yours.
Your first move
Where to start this week
You can start this week. Tick these off:
- Join your school or club athletics team and get properly timed over 30m and 60m.
- Train sprint starts and leg power with a qualified coach.
- Email the BSFN at info@bsfnigeria.com and ask about the next National Push Championships.
- Keep your passport and school records in order: all sliding is done abroad.
- Follow Nigerian sliders every winter on our Winter Tracker.
- Keep studying: sports science and medicine keep you in the sport for life.
The federation's full details are on our Contact Nigerian bobsled page, and Nigeria's sliders and skiers are followed every winter on the Winter Tracker.
Keep exploring
Explore Nigerian bobsled
History of bobsled in Nigeria
How three sprinters became Africa's first Olympic bobsleigh team.Read more
Nigeria at the Winter Olympics
Every Nigerian Winter Olympian and result.Read more
Seun Adigun
Hurdler, pilot and founder of Nigerian bobsleigh.Read more
Simidele Adeagbo
Africa's first woman in Olympic skeleton, now a monobob pilot.Read more
Quick answers
Bobsled careers in Nigeria: your questions
How do I join the Nigerian bobsled team?
Start as a sprinter or jumper, then contact the Bobsled and Skeleton Federation of Nigeria (info@bsfnigeria.com, +234 803 656 5493). The federation holds National Push Championships to find athletes; 40 took part in Lagos in 2023.
Where do Nigerian bobsledders train if there is no snow?
Abroad, because Nigeria has no ice track. Nigeria's 2018 team trained on a wooden practice sled in Houston and raced on tracks in North America, and Nigerian sliders now race in North America and Europe from November to March.
How much does bobsleigh cost?
It is an expensive sport, mainly because of equipment, travel and time on the ice abroad. Nigeria's 2018 women's team raised $75,000 through GoFundMe to pay for equipment, and later gained sponsorship from Team Visa.
How do you qualify for the Winter Olympics in bobsleigh?
Through international races and world rankings. Nigeria's women completed the minimum five qualifying races in November 2017. For Milano Cortina 2026, the top 25 in women's monobob qualified, and Simidele Adeagbo missed out in 26th place.
Why do sprinters make good bobsledders?
Because every run begins with a sprinting push start. All of Nigeria's Olympic sliders came from athletics: Seun Adigun was an Olympic hurdler, Ngozi Onwumere an African Games relay champion and Simidele Adeagbo an NCAA All-American triple jumper.
Can I make a living from bobsleigh?
Not from prize money or a salary: no such figures are published for Nigerian sliders. Athletes fund themselves through jobs, crowdfunding, sponsorship and grants, and build careers as coaches, medical staff and administrators.
When are the next Winter Olympics?
In 2030. Nigeria has competed at three Winter Games in a row: PyeongChang 2018, Beijing 2022 and Milano Cortina 2026.