Sprinter Tyson Gay to compete in Bobsleigh Championships

Gay has only had "a handful of days' experience pushing a sled". Credit: Reuters

Former world 100 metres champion Tyson Gay will switch from the track to the ice this week when he competes in the USA Bobsled National Push Championships in Calgary.

Gay, who won 100m, 200m and 4x100m gold at the 2007 world championships in Osaka, Japan, joins fellow sprinter Ryan Bailey in the competition.

Gay, 34 and Bailey, 27, represented half of the United States' 4x100m relay team which won silver at London 2012, only to be stripped of their medals after the former tested positive for a banned substance in 2013, with his results backdated to before the Olympics.

A Team USA media release revealed Gay, who has competed at the last three summer Olympics and is the joint second fastest 100m sprinter in history, has only had "a handful of days' experience pushing a sled".

Bailey, though, has impressed bobsleigh coaches, having won the preliminary push championships on dry land in Lake Placid, New York, last month.

This week's championships, which begin on Wednesday, are a mandatory step for any athlete hoping to join the United States team this season.