Both 30-year-old Reddingius and 29-year-old Walker will make their Olympic debut in Beijing, with the pair to race the two-woman event and Walker to contest the Monobob in its Olympic debut.

Earning selection with her combined mono and two-woman ranking of 10th in the world as the highest placed Australian pilot, Walker has taken the monobob world circuit by storm, claiming 12 world series podiums over the last two seasons including six gold. The pair also have Australia’s best ever two-woman results with two top-10 finishes this season.

The icy tracks and wintry villages the pair compete in seem a world away from their hometowns, with Reddingius raised in Leonora in outback Western Australia and Melbourne-born Walker based in Cairns when not on the competition circuit.

However, they have shown they are at home in the top levels of bobsled racing, matching it with European and north American powerhouse nations.

Both athletes hail from an athletics background, with Reddingius a successful heptathlete, only just missing selection for the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games and Walker a 400 metre hurdler.

Chef de Mission for the Australian Olympic Team for Beijing, Geoff Lipshut, welcomed the pair to the Team.

“Congratulations to Bree and Kiara on your Olympic selection,” Mr Lipshut said. “You have shown you are among the elite bobsledders in the world and I look forward to seeing what you can achieve in Beijing.

“I’m thrilled that Australians will get to see Bree make history as our first ever monobob Olympian, with the sport making its Olympic debut.

“For Australian athletes to be consistently finishing on or close to podiums against the traditional sliding sport heavyweights is an outstanding testament to the hard work and dedication you have given your craft.

“I hope you can cherish today’s announcement both as a team, but also with your families, friends and supporters who have helped you realise your Olympic dreams.”

The bobsledders will compete at the Yanqing Sliding Centre just outside Beijing, which includes a world-first 360 degree turn.

Walker said she was ecstatic to be named to her Olympic debut and show what Australians can do on the world stage.

“Thank you to Bobsleigh Skeleton Australia and Queensland Academy of Sport for helping develop and support fantastic Australian sliding athletes.”

“We’re all really excited, we’ve worked so hard for this and can't wait to continue our Olympic journey in Beijing,” Walker said.

“I'm very privileged to be a part of this group of athletes making history in Monbob as it makes its debut at the Winter Olympics.

“It’s going to be such exciting races – not many athletes have had much experience on the new Beijing track, it will lead to some unexpected racing, lots of thrills and leader-board changes, and I can't wait to have Australia watch.

“Everyone has said Australia can’t be successful, but why not? We're all humans, no different to those athletes from the nations with big programs, and I can’t wait to show what Australia bobsledders can do in Beijing. And we’ve had so much support, from the Olympic Winter Institute, and Queensland Academy of Sport to help put us in this position to compete at the highest level.

“I hope there are athletes who see Kiara and I compete in Beijing and sees their own opportunity in winter sports and to chase a Winter Olympic dream. People can see what we hopefully will be able to do in Beijing, and might the same as we did, google the bobsleigh website and see how they can get into the sport.

Walker and Reddingius will be the only Australian bobsledders in Beijing, with Australia finishing just outside of the top six nation rankings to qualify a second two-woman sled.

“We're obviously very sad that we won’t be able to have two sleds at the Games, we knew how difficult it was going to be to achieve going up against some really strong nations with really big programs. But we're going to do our best to represent Australia as best as we can at the Olympics and lay down the best performance we can on the day.”

After an impressive World Cup season, West Australian Reddingius said she hopes her Olympic journey can help inspire young Australians.

“I was very confident in my ability to learn fast and change fast and adapt and I was quite confident in the position I had got my body in for the last eight years in athletics would put me in good stead,” Reddingius said.

“There was so much to learn, but I like learning and the bobsleigh community is so supportive, so many people around the world were willing to help me because they saw that I had potential.

“Bree and I do all that we can, at any time, to execute our training and rest and everything we can control to the best of our abilities. We've got high expectations of ourselves, but we also know that every moment we're giving it our best.

“I hope that our story and how we’ve adapted can help show young Australians they don’t need to put limits on what they think they can achieve.

“It doesn't matter what your background is, it doesn't matter what you've done previously, you don't even have to believe that you can do it - you just have to give things a try. Not just in sport either, if it’s in music, education, anything you want to do, putting limits on yourself is going to hinder what you can truly achieve.”

Bobsleigh Skeleton Australia CEO and 2018 Bobsleigh Olympian Hayden Smith said he was proud to see the women’s bobsleigh team for Beijing announced.

“We have a small but fierce group of athletes, we’ve shown this quadrennial that we can mix it with European heavy weights,” Mr Smith said.

“Our Women’s bobsleigh program has gone from strength to strength in the past quadrennial, we are extremely proud to have such a competitive product and fortunate to have the depth we have.

Together with the previously announced nominations of Nicholas Timmings (Men’s Skeleton) and recent World Cup winner Jaclyn Narracott (Women’s Skeleton), Bobsleigh and Skeleton Australia is confident we are fielding its most competitive team ever in Beijing 2022.

“It has been a whirlwind of a season, we were in a fantastic position leading into the last World Cup race where Australia was holding two women’s bobsleigh quota spots. Unfortunately, we weren't able to field both teams and dropped back, missing out on the second quota by the slimmest of margins.

“In that regard, we had multiple deserving athletes who have shown incredible dedication throughout a difficult qualification period. We would like to acknowledge all the hard work of Sarah Blizzard, Ashleigh Werner, Tia-Clair Toomey, Stefanie Preiksa and Peta Tobin who all had impressive seasons and helped with our qualification.”

The women’s monobob will run from 13-14 February and the two-woman bobsleigh from 18-19 February at the Yanqing Sliding Centre.

This announcement takes the number of athletes selected to 10 of an expected 44-strong Team, with more than 30 ski and snowboard athletes to be named later today and figure skating to be named tomorrow.

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