From Students to Sochi: Steve Langton discovered bobsledding after track career

As Steve Langton hit his 24th birthday, the unsettling realization that his athletic career as a track sprinter was ending bounced around his head. But he wasn't about to let it put a stop to his competitive nature.

The Melrose, Mass., native knew he was way too young to call it quits altogether, so he got to searching. Google has thousands of answers, but Langton really had no idea what he was looking for six years ago.

All the clicking on websites eventually led to an email being sent to Steve Holcomb, the same guy Langton shared a two-man bobsled with this week for the U.S.A. Bobsled team at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

"I had this need to find something that was going to keep me competitive," Langton said. "I was in great shape. I was getting too big for sprints, but guys with speed at 225 or 230 pounds are ideal for bobsled."

See the MaxPreps "From Students to Sochi" homepage, with links to more Olympics content

That became pretty clear at an NFL-combine type tryout in September of 2007 that he got invited to after Holcomb responded to the email and the two Olympic Games since as Langton continues to grow in the sport he essentially took up out of desperation.

"It was a shot in the dark," he said. "I realistically didn't think it would lead to this, but I went as far as track and field would take me."

It appears that Langton, who ran track at St. John's Prep (Danvers, Mass.), Northfield Mount Hermon (Mount Hermon, Mass.) and Northeastern University, is just getting started in bobsled.

He won a bronze medal with Holcomb in the two-man event this year and is in the midst of the four-man competition in Sochi. Langton and Holcomb also won gold in the World Cup in Lake Placid, N.Y., in December.

It's been a quick climb - from desperate email sender to world champion – for Langton and Holcomb, who won gold in the 2010 Vancouver Games in the four-man, expects that ascension to continue while in Sochi.

"He's hands-down the best push athlete in the world," Holcomb told the Boston Globe. "He's been that way for a couple years now, and I don't see him letting up anytime soon."

Langton said it was tough adjusting to the nuisances of the sport.

"It's insane and a very niche sport," he said. "It's impossible to prepare for. It's so much different than anything than I've ever done. The bobsled is much louder and violent than you ever expect and more uncomfortable than you can ever imagine, but that adrenaline rush can get you through a lot of things."

Langton, whose brother, Chris, is an Olympic alternate, didn't return from the 2010 Vancouver Games with a medal, but the experience was invaluable.

"Standing there in the U.S.A colors is a little surreal," he said. "I am so proud to do it again and this time I want to return with more than memories."

Langton, who has incredible leg strength (check out the video of his 62-inch standing box jump), said the time he spent in high school athletics planted the seed for this Olympic success, even though nobody envisioned it coming in a 382-pound bobsled.

"I ran a lot of 4-by-100 relays and from that aspect it is similar," he said. "You and teammates have to work in unison and get into a dead sprint. When it all comes together it is a cool feeling."

Langton, 30, said he is proof that you should always seek out new challenges instead of giving into signals of an ending.

"Whether it is football, track or any other sport that you stop playing, you can always find a way to fuel your competitive urge," he said. "Do some research, find something that fits what you do, and who knows? Maybe you can become an Olympian."

Jason P. Skoda, a former Arizona Republic and current Ahwatukee Foothill News staff writer, is a 19-year sports writing veteran. Contact him at jskoda1024@aol.com or 480-272-2449.