LOS ANGELES • Former world 100 metres champion Tyson Gay has traded the track for ice this week after he entered to compete in the US Bobsled National Push Championships in Calgary.

The 34-year-old American will make his initial bid for a national team spot despite only pushing a sleigh for a "handful of days", according to the US Bobsled and Skeleton Federation.

Gay was suspended from athletics for a year after testing positive for a banned substance in 2013, and was stripped of his 4x100 metres relay silver medal from the 2012 London Games.

The 2007 triple world champion was also part of the 4x100m relay team who were disqualified in the final at this year's Rio Olympics.

The American team could have won bronze last month but they lost the opportunity when they were found to have made a bad baton hand-off.

"It has to be the worst luck for this country ever," Gay had said in Rio.

"It's always something weird, stupid, simple, mistakes that always cost us and I don't understand."

Fellow sprinter Ryan Bailey, who was part of the London relay team, is also among the entrants in the Sept 21-24 event.

Push championships are compulsory for any athlete aiming to make the US national team during the 2016-17 season, a key part of preparations for the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

"I'm still not over it," Bailey said last month, referring to having his London silver medal taken away.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS