Kaysha Love Is Enjoying The Ride

In Bustle’s The Pregame, we ask women athletes about their pregame rituals. What are their must-haves for training? How do they get in the zone? Here, bobsledder Kaysha Love talks about preparing for the Olympics and the Native deodorant that makes her feel race-ready.

Days before Team USA’s Olympic roster was announced on Jan. 19, bobsledder Kaysha Love was Zooming with Bustle from Altenburg, Germany, and experiencing the all-too-relatable issue with video conferencing: an unstable internet connection. That’s why she headed to her sled truck and parked outside a train station with reliable service. She was in town prepping for the final qualifying race, anxious to finally know if she’d participate in the Milano Cortina Olympic Games.

“Right now, we're living in this limbo of, ‘We've done everything we can,’” she said. “This season has been a great one of learning and experiencing different things throughout the sport to really prepare us for the Games.”

She didn’t have to worry, since three days later, the Selection Committee named the 28-year-old Utah native to represent Team USA in Italy. While she participated in the 2022 Olympics, this is her first time as a pilot, taking a leadership role in directing the bobsled, which can travel up to 90 miles per hour.

Change isn’t new to Love. Though she always had the Olympics in sight, she hadn’t expected to be racing down an icy track. She started her athletic career in gymnastics and, after 12 years, transitioned to track and field. During her last year at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 2020, a bobsled coach approached her to say she was in the wrong sport.

“I had spent eight years doing this sport that I felt like was part of my purpose, and then for him to tell me that I need to try a sport that I'd only known from Cool Runnings,” Love recalls. “I was hesitant at first. [But] he was saying how the Olympics are coming up in a year and a half. And that's what I had been chasing my whole athletic career.” At 23, she made the switch.

After just six bobsled competitions, she qualified for the Beijing Games. While she didn’t earn any medals that time around, she now has her eyes set on gold. Though winning is nice, having her fiancé (fellow Team USA Olympian Hunter Powell), family, and friends support her ambitions means just as much.

“Winning World Championships was amazing, but it was the first time that my family and friends got to come and watch a bobsled race. My mom has never really seen me compete at the World Cup level,” Love says. “No matter the journey, no matter the sport, whatever area we are in life, she's just been my biggest support system. So it might scare her a little bit, but she's all on board.”

Below, Love chats about her pre-race routine, her go-to skin care product, and using wedding planning as a mental distraction.

How do you get in the zone before a big race?

Routine is so important. When I waver from it, I start doing things a little out of the ordinary, or I might feel a little more pressure. That pressure is a privilege, but being able to control it is what really helps me stay locked in for races.

So my routine [consists] of waking up and doing several mind runs, which is basically visualizing in my head what the track looks like and how I want to execute my push, my runs, my drive. Then I get to the track and do a really strong warm-up. I warm up very similarly to a track-and-field athlete. It's lots of dynamic drills, sprinting, explosive things, and then when we're on the line, right before I go, I say a prayer, and then I do a signature handshake [with my teammate, Azaria Hill]. And that handshake really reminds me to, one, lock in, but two, have fun. A lot is riding on this, but I tend to do my best when I remind myself to have fun and to be grateful that I get to travel the world, compete, and represent my country in bobsledding.

How do you get ready for race day?

I genuinely love feeling clean. When you look good, and you feel good, and you smell good, it all kind of pulls in the same direction of performing well on the track. I use my Native products, like the whole-body deodorant, because our race days are long. We wake up at 6 o'clock, and sometimes I don't even get back to my hotel until 4:35 in the afternoon.

Do you have a go-to scent?

I'm such a vanilla girl. I love Native’s Italian Vanilla Gelato from the new Global Flavors collection.

What do you like to eat to stay energized?

I love sour gummy bears in between my runs.

What are some of the inspiring lessons you’ve learned from your coach?

My favorite coach, Brian Shimer, talks about being 65 years old and how when he looks back at his career of being one of the most decorated bobsled athletes, he made core memories with his teammates, and he got to travel the world. And so he really reminds me, especially on rough training days or races, that you have to embrace the suck. You have to love this experience and know that there are no bad days, just lessons. And those lessons turn into champions.

How do you spend your downtime?

I like to spend my downtime just hanging out with my fiancé and family, resting, recovering, swimming, paddleboarding. I’m really looking forward to getting a dog after the Olympics, a giant schnauzer. I think we'll spend a lot of our downtime training a puppy.

Congrats on your engagement! Have you found time to start planning your wedding?

Honestly, I've been using wedding planning as a mental distraction on some of the training days. So we have actually planned like 90% of our wedding. We're really excited. We'll be getting married on Sept. 3.

After Milano Cortina, what’s next career-wise?

I feel like I'm still very young in my development as a pilot. This is only my third year piloting, so I'm looking forward to doing another four years and hopefully doing a repeat of gold in La Plagne in 2030.

But outside of bobsled, I'm very passionate about coaching and trying to help inspire and grow the next generation. So, in the offseason of bobsled, I would love to coach gymnastics. That would be a huge passion of mine.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.