KSHB 41 reporter Megan Abundis covers Kansas City, Missouri, including neighborhoods in the southern part of the city. Share your story idea with Megan.
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For years, Lee's Summit West High School alumnus Caleb Furnell has been all about speed and adrenaline. The former track and field athlete's natural talent has his former coach still amazed.
"Even seeing him against other athletes his age and level, he's fast," said Michael Shortino, Lee's Summit West head boys track and field coach.
That talent now has Furnell staring down a bobsled track as a Winter Olympics hopeful for Team USA, with the hopes of competing in the games in Cortina, Italy, just weeks away.
"I am Caleb Furnell, I am a USA bobsledder right now, born and raised right here in Kansas City," he said."To transition so quickly from another sport and be at this senior level, it's been pretty wild, pretty fun."
Bobsledding combines explosive sprinting with iron-forged strength as blades meet the track in a launch that sends athletes hurtling down the ice at incredible speeds. Furnell is a part of a four-man bobsled.
He described the experience in terms Kansas Citians would understand.
"You know Worlds of Fun? The Prowler, the wooden rollercoaster?" he said. "It's kind of shaky like that, but you can't see where you're going. It's rattly and loud, and it's like a car crash."
The race takes about 60 seconds at 85 mph. Furnell's position is in the back, where he's responsible for the sprint and the push.
"My head is between my knees, just staring at the bottom," Furnell said of how he's folded in half during the ride.
His goal during the run is to stay as still as possible, and at the very end, he's the one who pulls the brake.
Furnell started as a track and field athlete and became a state high jump champion. Shortino remembers the 2019 grad's athletic determination.
"I'm so proud of him, I'm so proud of him," Shortino said. "The power, the athleticism, the speed. I absolutely know why they pick him. He was a state champion in his sophomore year in high jump, and from then on, you knew his path was going to be a good path in whatever he did."
Despite suffering a broken leg in high school, Furnell rebounded to play soccer and continue in track and field.
"He rebounded from the broken leg and became an all-stater in a sprint event his senior year, and had a great career in college running really fast in the 200," Shortino said. "To rebound like he did is unheard of, and [to] have a great career after that in college is a testament to who he is and how hard he works."
Shortino said Furnell served as captain for every team he joined in high school.
For Furnell, competing for Team USA has always been his ultimate goal.
"This has always been my end goal; everything I do has been pointed toward this," Furnell said.
However, bobsledding wasn't necessarily part of his original plan.
"I finished my track and field career at Utah Valley," he said. "I didn't do anything for a couple of months, thought I was done with athletics."
But a friend's phone call changed everything.
"My friend called me up, and was like, 'Hey, there's a combine for bobsled. You should come out,'" Furnell recalled. "And I was like, 'Okay, sure.' The day before, no prep, went and did it. Turned out pretty well."
He continued practicing in Park City, Utah, and his natural ability quickly became apparent.
"I went to the National Push Champs, Individual Trials and took fourth, so it worked out very well for me," he said. "From there, I made the national team and have been racing."
His mother, Margene Furnell, said speed has always defined her son's approach to achieving his goals.
"If he wanted something, he was going to find a way to get it," she said. "It's a little surreal. You're like, oh yeah, that's my son."
Margene described Caleb as not a flashy athlete, but someone who spends considerable time researching and working in the gym on his own to improve.
Growing up, the Furnell family's Norwegian heritage made the Winter Olympics especially meaningful in their household.
"My mother was Norwegian, so we were raised on Winter Olympics," Margene said. "It's almost like a religion in our house. All winter long, we were watching. To have Caleb's first podium be in Lillehammer (Norway) was even more special."
His family has flights to Cortino, a place to stay and tickets to the bobsled races, ready to support their Olympic hopeful.
"The moral of my story is: [If] at first you don't succeed, try again," Furnell said.
With a few more races to determine the future, the Olympic bobsled team will be named Jan. 19. Furnell's supporters will be watching for the stars and stripes uniform.
"What I can't wait to see is the country see him represent USA," Shortino said. "We will be around a TV watching him for sure."
Furnell's Olympic Team USA bobsled coach, Chris Fogt, earned his master's degree at the University of Kansas and was stationed in Kansas during his Army service, adding another local connection to the story.
Furnell currently lives in Utah with his wife Brynlee, their two cats and a dog named Louis after Formula 1 racing, which the adrenaline junkie loves.
He is studying for his master's degree in data science and has three siblings.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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