3 min read
THE 2026 MILAN-CORTINA Games begin on February 6, and athletes from around the world will convene in Italy to compete for gold and glory. The U.S. Bobsled team knows a thing or two about representing their home country. Some of its members aren’t just talented athletes—they’re also active duty soldiers.
The Army World Class Athlete Program (WCAP) supports the training of soldier-athletes for national and international sports competitions, and this year’s Milan-Cortina games will see six members of the US Army competing in several sports. One of these athletes is Sergeant Frank Del Duca, a bobsled pilot. He joins Strong Talk along with three-time Olympian and silver medalist Lieutenant Colonel Chris Fogt, who is serving as the coach for Team USA Bobsled.
The WCAP program has provided more than just a training camp for its athletes, according to Del Duca, who was also recently selected as Flag Bearer for Team USA for the opening ceremonies. “I’ve learned a lot about teamwork, discipline [through WCAP],” he says. “I have Army superiors who have done so much, both in and out of sport and in and out of the Army, that I have this wealth of knowledge of mentorship that has helped me on and off the ice.”
The pair spoke with MH fitness director Ebenezer Samuel, C.S.C.S to discuss preparation for the games, the dangerous challenges faced in bobsled training, and why bobsledding is considered a second-chance sport.
Bobsledding is a unique physics challenge where the sled picks up more momentum after an initial explosive force. “Pushing a bobsled is a resisted sprint that transitions into an assisted sprint, because you’re pushing a 400-pound sled on flat ground. It is ice, so it does build speed,” explains Del Duca. Athletes need to build that power in about five seconds, he says, before the sled goes downhill. “You are approaching and hitting your top speed after breaking that inertia… You have to be fast, you have to be powerful.”
Del Duca says the fastest bobsled speed is around 97 miles per hour at the Whistler World Championships in 2019. “It does get very wild,” he adds. “If you crash or sometimes you hit a wall at 90 miles an hour, it’s like getting hit by a car.”
So what does a bobsled training session look like? Fogt can tell you what’s not included. Despite what you might have seen in the 1993 movie Cool Runnings, Fogt says bobsledders do not sit in a bathtub to practice leaning. Instead, Del Duca and Fogt say bobsled training is very similar to training like a football player.
“We look for speed, power, and strength—in that order,” explains Fogt. “You can’t just be fast and small, because you can’t get that sled to move very fast. You can’t [just] be strong, because once that sled picks up speed, you will fall on your face and won’t get in the sleds.”
Along with mentorship, the WCAP provides a holistic approach to training that emphasizes sleep, nutrition, and mental readiness. In Fogt’s experience, working with the WCAP pushed him from being a good athlete to a great one. “I was training hard. I was doing a bunch of weights, but the sleep, nutrition, sports psych, all that stuff, really helped change the game and take that step up.”
Want more deep-dive fitness wisdom from Samuel and other celebs and experts who’ve been on our Strong Talk podcast? Check out all our episodes here.
Jocelyn Solis-Moreira, MS is the associate health & fitness for Men’s Health and has previously written for CNN, Scientific American, Popular Science, and National Geographic before joining the brand. When she’s not working, she’s doing circus arts or working towards the perfect pull-up.
