Kelsey Mitchell has become one of the few Canadian athletes to compete in both the summer and winter Olympic Games. The track cycling gold medalist from Sherwood Park, Alta., who clinched gold in Tokyo in 2021, was recently announced as part of Canada’s bobsled team for the upcoming Milan-Cortina Winter Games.
At 32 years old, Mitchell was chosen to be in Canada’s pool of bobsled brakewomen, making her the sixth bobsledder out of the 14 athletes who have represented Canada in both Winter and Summer Games.
Expressing her excitement, Mitchell shared, “I think there’s going to be 14 of us now in Canada have done it, and to be a part of that group is special. It’s always special to be going to the Olympics, and so to be able to have gone to the summer and now the winter as well is just, yeah, I don’t even have the words.”
The Canadian athlete, who also participated in cycling at the 2024 Summer Games in Paris, joined the bobsleigh team last year. Reflecting on her Olympic experience, Mitchell stated, “I’ve learned a lot going to the Games. I have to just tell myself it’s another race and that’s what it will be in Cortina for me. Hopefully I can help use my wisdom and knowledge that I’ve had from the other Games and help my teammates as well, just maybe with some nerves and how to navigate the Games.”
The 2026 edition of the Olympic bobsleigh team comprises 17 athletes, including three alternates. Canada has qualified three sleds in women’s bobsled and two each in women’s monobob, two-man, and four-man events. The medals in each category are determined by the combined times of four runs at the Cortina Sliding Centre.
Notable athletes in the team include Melissa Lotholz, Cynthia Appiah, Bianca Ribi, Taylor Austin, Dawn Richard-Wilson, and Skylar Sieben, among others. Additionally, brakemen such as Keaton Bruggeling, Yohan Eskrick-Parkinson, and others have been selected to support the team.
Canada has secured a total of 10 Olympic bobsleigh medals since 1964, with women’s bobsled making its debut in 2002 and women’s monobob in 2022. Leading up to the Winter Games, athletes like Lotholz and Appiah are confident in their performances and aim to deliver their best in pursuit of Olympic success.
Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton high-performance director Jesse Lumsden, a former CFL player and three-time Olympian in the sport, highlighted the team’s rebuilding efforts since 2022 and emphasized the importance of consistency and speed for success at the upcoming Olympics.
