EXCLUSIVE: Meet the Australian bobsleigh gun so popular she has a social media following five times bigger than Reece Walsh

Many Australians have already discovered the nation's two-woman bobsleigh duo, Desi Johnson and Sarah Blizzard, on their social media feeds — and if they haven't yet, they are certainly about to.

Asked how they'd like to be introduced to the Australian public, Blizzard's answer is simple: "I guess as ourselves".

This authenticity is exactly what defines their online presence.

READ MORE: Teen lifts lid on courage that floored Torah Bright

READ MORE: US star's emotional tribute to late father after comeback gold

READ MORE: Key dangling in front of coach to help elevate the Tillies' legacy

Johnson, in particular, has built a massive social following alongside her sporting career; a platform so significant that content creation has become her full-time job.

What began as casual TikTok videos during COVID-19 lockdowns —ranging from home workouts to lifestyle clips — quickly started to go viral.

Johnson has since evolved alongside her content, cultivating a massive digital presence that reaches a combined audience of over 3.1 million across her major social channels.

Putting that scale into perspective, Johnson boasts nearly five times the reach of NRL star Reece Walsh, effectively matching the social media following of Matildas captain Sam Kerr.

Watch the Winter Olympic Games Milano Cortina 2026 live and free on Channel 9 and 9Now. Plus, every event live & on demand, every medal in 4K, and exclusive international coverage on Stan Sport.

"I didn't realise the heights that it could take me," Johnson tells Wide World of Sports ahead of the Winter Olympics.

"I could monetise off it, and [my digital branding] just started to get bigger. I didn't realise I could turn it into a full-time job.

"If I weren't doing social media, I don't think I would be here today."

With the uncompromising focus required of an elite athlete, Johnson admits that striking a balance with content creation can be a constant juggle.

"It can be very hard. It is a lot of work. You've got to have people to help you with everything because it is honestly so hard doing it on your own," she says.

"The editing and everything takes forever.

"When I'm in Australia just training, I'm sitting at my laptop, or I'm on my phone 24/7. I'm constantly thinking of what I'm going to post tomorrow.

"This season I've tried to stay as focused as I can.

"It's very hard to take it all on at once, but it does work together really well."

Johnson's audience has followed her bobsleigh journey since 2023, with her sport-related content now driving her latest wave of growth.

Now, her life as an athlete and a creator is mutually reinforcing.

Johnson credits her digital success with helping her navigate the pragmatic reality of being an elite athlete in a niche, expensive sport.

Her social media career has acted as her primary sponsor; without the income and reach she generates online, she believes she would not have the financial means to fund her Olympic qualification alongside Blizzard.

"We're a self-funded team, and it is very hard to buy new equipment, to be overseas. It's the same stuff for Sarah," Johnson says.

"It's very, very expensive. So, being able to do social media and to build it up to what it is today, I'm able to pursue this dream.

"I believe it has helped me make the Olympics. So, I'm so grateful for it."

Don't be fooled by her grace: Johnson's social media is no hobby. It is her financial backbone, funding her Olympic campaign in a way that team sport salaries typically do.

"When you do this sport, most of us have to quit our jobs, and I did at the start, too," she says.

"So, it's pretty incredible that I can say that my job is on my phone and I can take it wherever I go and do whatever I want. My audience is going to follow my journey the whole time."

Johnson describes the gruelling, years-long journey toward Olympic qualification as pivotal.

The narrative has all the hallmarks of a smash hit: building tension, the suspense of a "will they or won't they" finish, and ultimately, the prospect of a true Cinderella story at Milano Cortina 2026.

However, the real value lies in pulling back the curtain on the complex, gritty, and often invisible work that happens off the track.

"It's really helped our visibility within the sport, and I think that's an amazing thing with such a niche sport that people don't really know about," Johnson says.

"People are getting around it, and I think there's going to be a lot more people watching it at the Olympics, which will be really cool."

Blizzard echoes this sentiment, noting that the "coolest" parts of the sport are often the ones the TV cameras miss.

"There's so much to bobsleigh that people don't know," she says.

"Obviously, the sport itself is cool, but there's so much more to it, and people are starting to see that, and I think that's exactly what we want to get out of it."

Blizzard admits that while Johnson was the primary creator initially, the platform's success is starting to translate into her own commercial opportunities.

Often described as Formula 1 on ice, bobsleigh is a sport where success hinges as much on superior equipment and cutting-edge technology as it does on athletic talent and perfect technique.

At the Olympic level, speed is an expensive commodity, and accessing the latest engineering comes with a steep price tag.

A single set of sled runners — the specialised steel blades that glide across the ice — can cost upwards of $15,000.

"It really does come down to the sled and the runners," Blizzard says.

"If you have an old sled, you're never going to gain any spots through driving alone.

"The sled that we have, I bought second-hand, but it is one of the more competitive models. There hasn't been anything fast that's come out since."

This differs from powerhouse nations like Germany and the United States, which benefit from multimillion-dollar budgets and exclusive partnerships with automotive giants like BMW.

"They have their own, exclusive manufacturers that do insanely fast sleds," Blizzard says.

"That's a separate problem.

"So, unfortunately, it's a sport where money buys good equipment. The more money you have, the better equipment you get.

"But I do think that we've gone above and beyond with the resources and the money that we have available.

"We've done a pretty amazing job to be here based on what we're competing against."

The first two heats of the two-woman bobsleigh get underway at 4am (AEDT) on Saturday.

In a display of sportsmanship, Blizzard and Johnson have been training in a distinctive orange Team Netherlands sled after Blizzard lent hers to the Dutch two-man bobsleigh team.