(This article originally appeared in the March 2025 issues of Military Officer, a magazine available to all MOAA Premium and Life members. Learn more about the magazine here; learn more about joining MOAA here.)
 
Her résumé is diverse: Division I athlete, pageant queen, Marine Corps operations officer, Team USA bobsled pilot, children’s book author, social media influencer, to name a few. Capt. Riley Tejcek’s days are, as she describes, jam-packed as she balances her duties as a Marine Corps officer with training and competing as a bobsled pilot for Team USA.

But she’s on a mission to demonstrate what she — and every woman — is capable of.

“I want to continue to push these two fields forward for women to show what’s possible in two pretty male-dominated spaces,” she said.

Tejcek spoke to Military Officer in October 2024 from Baghdad during her first deployment. She recently received orders to Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego and is gearing up for round one of the team trials for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Q. Tell me about your path to the military.

A. It wasn’t until I got to college, and I was playing Division I softball that I met a Marine recruiter my first couple weeks after getting onto campus, and he really sparked my interest by what he had to say about the Marine Corps — how I could be a servant leader, which was extremely important for my faith, and I could be an athlete ... for my job. And I thought, I get paid to work out and to train and be physically fit. That’s awesome. I have the ability to travel the world and go to places I’ve never been to before and have an opportunity to make an impact and a difference in this world and be part of the 1% of people who can serve.

And then lastly, I felt like this was a place that I needed to enter as a woman … to be able to provide society maybe a different taste of something that they didn’t think was the norm.

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Q. How did bobsledding come about?

A. Back in college when I was playing softball at George Washington University is where I really was first introduced, because there’s an alum, Elana Meyers Taylor, who was a softball player and then went and became an Olympic medalist in the sport of bobsled. She really was my connection into it. But I knew that I had dedicated my life to the Marine Corps, and that was something I was wholeheartedly pursuing. Bobsledding was just a fun thought to entertain … but never something I really anticipated doing.

In July or August of 2020, which was during the pandemic, I had moved to San Diego and was working my first job for the military. Everything was shut down, and … I wanted to use that time and turn a negative into something positive. … I saw that bobsled happened to have an online tryout. Normally, they were in person, but because of COVID, it was online. I decided to give it a go. I called the coach, and I started training.

Q. What did the tryout entail?

A. It’s called a combine ... very similar to the NFL. They’re thinking about your sprint time, weightlifting numbers, film of you as an athlete in your previous sport, kind of getting to know you. … They ended up inviting me to go to Park City, Utah, to be introduced to the sport. They have hundreds of applicants. They only invite maybe 15 to 20 max, and then from there, generally only about three or four really make it past the first year.

Q. What is bobsledding, and what does it take to be successful?

A. You have me, who’s a pilot, and the brakeman behind me. At the start line, we’re pushing the bobsled as fast as we can, for 30 to 50 meters. We hop in, and then from there, I start controlling and driving the bobsled. My brakeman is bent over in an aerodynamic position and will come into play again at the very end of the race. My job is then to navigate curves of different shapes and sizes and dimensions and navigate these as quickly as possible. I’m trying to avoid hitting walls, create less friction, get the fastest time as possible, and cross that finish line. My teammate behind me, then pulls the brakes to stop us, because we go up to 80 to 90 mph.

There are hours of prep work on the sled and the equipment and the runners and what we wear and our height and weight and all the little intricacies that go into literally gaining a 100th of a second on somebody. Generally, these tracks are over a mile long, and we’ve finished anywhere from 50 seconds to 70 seconds, so it happens very quickly.

It’s very intense, there’s a lot of room for error, and you’ve really got to be on it as things are coming at you very quickly. Communication, trust, and confidence and being in sync with our cadence … are all extremely important.

Capt. Riley Tejcek, USMC, right, meets fans and fellow servicemembers during an appearance in the Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va., commissary in 2023. (Photo by Lance Cpl. Jeffery Stevens/Marine Corps)

Q. How do you balance bobsledding with your Marine Corps duties?

A. The Marine Corps always comes first. That’s where my commitment lies. The bobsledding comes after. ... I wake up early in the mornings before work, and I get my workout for the day, usually weightlifting or sprinting or something in that capacity. Then I work a full work day, and most of the time, I train after, or I’m using that time after for recovery to make sure my body’s OK to go the next day. I also do my own marketing and my own advertising to make sure I’m even able to pay for the sport of bobsled. My days are absolutely jam-packed. It’s two full-time jobs.

Q. How do you stay motivated?

A. I’m motivated in my Marine Corps career, because I love what I do, and it’s not about me, it’s about my Marines. Every day, I want to wake up and be the best leader I can be for my Marines, to make sure that they’re taken care of and I’m able to make a difference for my country and actually serve.
On the other side, being an athlete again, isn’t just for me, it’s often time to show people what they are capable of, especially women in professional sports.

I never thought I’d be doing either of these two things, let alone doing them together and with faith, positivity, and confidence. With the right people around you, truly you can do absolutely anything you want to do.

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Q. What’s next on your journey toward the Olympics?

A. At the end of March, we’ll have round one of the Olympic team trials. Then we’ll have the summer off, and we’ll meet back up in the fall to have our Olympic trial final. The Olympic team will be named, and the Olympics kick off in January 2026.

I’m one of six female pilots, and the five others are absolutely phenomenal athletes and, honestly, some of the best women competitors I’ve ever met. There are only three spots for the Olympic games. The woman who inspired me to do the sport is … still competing, and she’s been at five of the games. She’s one of my teammates but also one of my competitors that you’re going against. It’s an uphill battle for sure, but it’s one that I’m excited to see, and I’m excited to give it everything I have.

Q. Finally, what was harder, Marine Corps Recruit Training or training for the Olympics?

A. Training for the Olympics, but they’re both hard in different ways. I think for the military, it is so mentally and physically difficult, but they give you the right tools to be able to get you there. … I don’t think there’s anything that’s been harder than training for bobsled — not having full financial backing, not being able to always have coaching all the time, and lack of resources. And then it’s such a small percentage of people who make it ... to the Olympic team. It’s such a special niche that you will find a lot more Marines than you will of Olympians. And I think that’s good, because we need more Marines than Olympians to defend our nation.

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