Inside former Notre Dame track star Jadin O'Brien's rise to Olympics — and Kevin Bauman's front-row seat

Believe it or not, former Notre Dame tight end Kevin Bauman told Blue & Gold, there are some similarities between football and bobsledding.

At least, as far as the training regimen is concerned. Bauman noticed when his girlfriend, former Notre Dame track and field star Jadin O’Brien, started training for the sport in August.

“Our summer workouts were a lot of heavy sled push mixed with more speed sled pushes,” Bauman said. “There was some crossover, which was cool, because I felt like I had some knowledge on that.”

O’Brien, a three-time pentathlon national champion for the Fighting Irish, began preparing for bobsled rookie camp on Aug. 4. It was a sport she had never participated in before, and the turnaround was quick: Her final track meet at the USATF Outdoor Championships, was Aug. 2.

Six months later, O’Brien is set to compete in the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy. She was named to the U.S. Team for the two-woman bobsled on Jan. 19, with her event set to begin Feb. 20.

Bauman, with football behind him, arrived in Milan on Wednesday. His playing career ended the exact same day O’Brien’s track and field career did, but not expectedly and certainly not by choice. He suffered his fourth season-ending leg injury in five years, forcing him to medically retire.

Bauman is still processing that reality, which will include a fourth (and hopefully final) knee surgery in March. But for the next week, there’s no place he’d rather be than at the Milan Cortina Olympics, by O’Brien’s side.

“They know her as the insane athlete she is, but there’s truly not a better human being on this earth,” Bauman said. “I know I’m her boyfriend and I gotta say that stuff, but there’s truly no one whose smile lights up the room, just her energy, her presence.

“People love being around her, people love her and it’s truly an incredible journey to be a part of.”

From Notre Dame to Team USA

O’Brien thought the Instagram DM that eventually led her to Milan was a scam.

It came from Elana Meyers Taylor, an accomplished bobsledder and veteran of four Olympic games. Incidentally, at 41 years old, Meyers Taylor won her first gold medal on Monday afternoon in the women’s monobob. But back in 2024, O’Brien dismissed her message that said she should try out for bobsled.

About one year later, though, Meyers Taylor reached out again. This time, O’Brien responded. And about a year after that, she became an Olympic athlete, and she’ll be pushing a sled piloted by Meyers Taylor.

That was no surprise to Bauman, who knows what O’Brien is capable of.

“That’s her attitude, and that’s why I love her,” Bauman said. “Whatever she’s doing, she’s gonna be the best at it. And so when she’s saying, ‘Hey, I’m gonna do this new sport, and I’m just gonna give it a shot,’ you know she’s gonna give it everything she’s got. And given who she is as an athlete, you know she’s gonna excel at it.”

Bauman and O’Brien had been close friends since their freshman year together at Notre Dame. They joined the same Master’s program after finishing their undergraduate degrees, and Bauman credited that program with bringing them together.

They began dating in March 2025.

“Things get competitive,” Bauman said. “We could be doing push ups, whatever it might be, but she will always get the last laugh. She’ll always do the one extra rep. She’ll always lean forward at the end if we’re doing sprints together. Whatever we’re doing, we’re competing.”

O’Brien, a Pewaukee, Wisc. native, is one of Notre Dame’s most decorated track athletes ever. In addition to being a three-time national champion in the pentathlon, she’s a two-time runner-up in the heptathlon and a 10-time All-American. She also owns top-10 marks in program history in hurdles, long jump, javelin and shot put.

“She’s disciplined unlike anybody I’ve ever met,” Bauman said. “She’s never satisfied, almost to a fault. She gives everything she has in everything she does.”

That work ethic translated to the bobsled track, which wasn’t a consideration for O’Brien until she received that DM from Meyers Taylor. It was on her radar during her season at Notre Dame, but only in the back of her mind as she tried to finish her track and field career strong.

As soon as she returned to South Bend in August, though, she was all in. Within 10 days, she departed for rookie camp in Lake Placid, N.Y. Her workouts were different, and she tried to watch film — just to get a feel for how the sport works — whenever she could.

“I didn’t know the first thing about bobsled at that time, but it was just a matter of being vocal about it and sharing that information, looking for feedback from anywhere she could get it,” Bauman said. “She attacked it. She went for it, and it clearly paid off.”

‘Similar-ish worlds’

On Jan. 6, Bauman thought O’Brien’s athletic career might have come to the same untimely end that his did. Or worse.

During a World Cup event in Switzerland, O’Brien and Meyers Taylor were involved in a terrifying crash. The International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation declined to release the footage due to its violent nature, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and the National Catholic Register. In an Instagram post, Meyers Taylor said the front axle ripped through the front of their sled upon impact, causing them to crash three times after the initial collision.

Fortunately, O’Brien and Meyers Taylor emerged with minor scrapes, bumps and bruises. But Bauman, who was in attendance, said it was one of the scariest moments of his life.

“I’m coming from a sport that’s violent, in football, and having gone through some of the more traumatic things I’ve been through,” Bauman said. “I’ve never experienced anything like that.”

Somehow, after a brief trip to the hospital, O’Brien and Meyers Taylor were able to race again that week. They finished 10th in the competition.

“She’s fearless,” Bauman said. “She’s really in a league of her own. It’s incredible.”

The crash was far from the most difficult health-related episode O’Brien has overcome. She dealt with several injuries throughout college. And as a young child, between the ages of 5 and 10, she overcame an illness called Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections.

Known as PANDAS, it occurs when a strep infection causes psychiatric disorders such as obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and depression. She told the Indy Star that “terror” was something she felt every day until a doctor discovered what was going on and treated her.

O’Brien went through hell to be where she is today, and that’s something she and Bauman share. He went through a different kind of hell, but he said he and O’Brien absolutely lean on each other through difficult times.

“That’s one of the strongest things we have, is shared experienced in similar-ish worlds.” Bauman said. “Although it’s not something you want to be sharing, it comes in handy sometimes.”

One of those times was the aftermath of Bauman’s final knee injury.

Along another round of physical pain, Bauman faced the realization that his Notre Dame football career was over — in many ways, before it could even get started. He had made it through just two healthy seasons: His redshirt year in 2020, and 2024. Contributing (mostly on special teams) to Notre Dame’s run to the national title game was special, but coming off back-to-back ACL surgeries, he wasn’t the player he could have been.

When he returned in 2025, Bauman had the best spring of his career. He had a real chance to play significant offensive snaps, only to have it stolen from him days into fall camp.

Bauman said O’Brien was the reason he got through the ensuing weeks and months.

“No matter how much I thank her, it will never be enough,” Bauman said. “She’s out in Lake Placid, where she’s never been before, with people she doesn’t know. I’m out in South Bend, having a fifth surgery, third knee surgery and going through a career-ending injury and probably an identity crisis.

“Despite everything she had going on, she was there every second. She was the first person I talked to after surgery. My mom FaceTimed her from the hospital, and she was incredible. She had no business being able to give as much as she did, and she did it anyway.”

When Bauman was healthy enough to travel, he visited O’Brien in Norway, Switzerland, Germany and now Italy. O’Brien spent the fall as his biggest supporter and he’s happy to return the favor.