Azaria Hill embraces her family's Olympic legacy in bobsled debut at Milan Cortina

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy — U.S. bobsledder Azaria Hill is about to officially enter the family business.

Hill's mother has three Olympic track and field relay medals, two of them gold. Her aunt won two medals in those same relays, with one gold. Her father won a silver in boxing, plus has a couple of world championships on his resume.

At the Milan Cortina Games, Hill will make her Olympic debut and chase her own medal. She'll race with Kaysha Love in the two-woman bobsled event that starts Friday and ends Saturday, looking to add to the family's medal haul.

“I won’t lie," Hill said. "Growing up, it felt like a little bit of pressure. ... They were great athletes and I always felt like, ‘Oh, maybe people are looking at me to be like them.’ But now that I’m in bobsled, this is my own journey, my own path, it’s really fun and exciting and everybody’s just super excited for me.”

With good reason.

Hill is a two-time medalist on the World Cup circuit, including a silver on the Olympic track in Cortina d'Ampezzo from a race back in November. She was teamed with Love for both of those medal runs; the U.S., unlike some countries, tends to alternate which push athletes are with drivers over the course of the World Cup season.

But Hill and Love — whose theatrical pre-race “snap” at the top of the track tends to go viral in the bobsled world whenever they team up — are clearly a good match, and it was no surprise they were paired for the Olympics.

“I’m really happy to be competing with Kaysha, being on her sled, being her brakewoman, given that she was the one who did introduce me to the sport," Hill said. "So, I feel our bond and our friendship definitely translates over to the bobsled track. I think you’re going to really see that chemistry when we go out there and push.”

The family Olympic circus

Hill's father is Virgil Hill, who won a silver medal in boxing at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics before becoming a two-time world champion and earning enshrinement into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

Her mother is Denean Howard-Hill, a three-time Olympic sprint relay medalist, all of them in the 4x400-meter event — winning gold at LA in 1984 and then silvers at Seoul in 1988 and Barcelona in 1992.

And her aunt is Sherri Howard, who won gold on that 1984 relay and silver in the 1988 relay.

“I had always wanted to go to the Olympics," Azaria Hill said. "Every little thing that I wrote, I’m like, ‘I want to be an Olympian someday, like my mom and my aunt. I want to be an Olympian. I want to be an Olympian.’ But I thought it would be in track. I was pursuing track and field, I went to a Division I college (Long Beach State), transferred over to UNLV and I thought it would be that.

“Then, you know, bobsled just happened.”

At UNLV, she was teammates with Love. And when Hill's college eligibility was exhausted, Love sent her a message.

“Would you try bobsled?”

Hill didn't hesitate. After all, Olympics are the family business.

Her role in Cortina

A push athlete brings speed and power to the starting block. In this case, Hill will grab the handles on the back of the sled while Love grabs a push-bar on the left side. They'll sprint 30 meters or so down the hill to build some speed, then get in the sled — Love first, then Hill. If all goes right, Hill will do absolutely nothing for the next 55 seconds or so until she pulls the brakes at the finish.

Hill and Love add a little extra to that list.

The “snap” — a sassy little way they end their pre-race pump-up handshake seconds before starting their run — is a big deal to them. Love said that she's gone to elementary schools and kids might not know the nuances of bobsledding, but they know the snap.

"I think handshakes are fun. I think they really just remind you to have so much fun out there," Love said. "That gets us in the moment and reminds us that we're blessed. We're blessed to be able to slide down a mountain for a living and represent our country, our families, our friends. And that snap always brings back a little bit of sass, a little bit of excitement.”

When Hill snaps her fingers Friday night before the first of four runs, it'll be officially official: She'll be in the family business.

She'll be an Olympian. Just like her mom, her dad and her aunt.

“I always thought it would be in track,” she said. “I visualized that I’m running through the tape, arms up. But now the way I visualize it is, I’m pulling the brakes at the finish, we’re cheering, screaming, tears of joy and then we're on the podium listening to the national anthem and someone puts a medal on my neck. Bobsled might not be what I always imagined, but this moment is what I always imagined.”