National Bobsleigh Program Charges into Olympic Season

Motivated squad replete with veteran leadership and youthful energy and drive

CALGARY—Canada’s bobsleigh athletes will be driven to continue a tradition of excellence that spans nearly six decades at all levels of the sport while sliding around the world with the maple leaf on their sleds during the critical 2025-26 season that will culminate with the Olympic Winter Games in Milano/Cortina, Italy.

Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton has completed the National Bobsleigh Program team selection process, naming 36 athletes who will fill Canadian sleds piloted by five women and five men at international competitions.

Three Olympians have been given the nod to pilot the Canadian women’s sleds on the World Cup circuit to start the season. Olympic pilots at the 2022 Games – Cynthia Appiah (Toronto) and Melissa Lotholz (Barrhead, Alta.) – will be joined by Kristin Bujnowski (Mount Brydges, Ont.) on the top circuit. Bujnowski, who hopped into the pilot’s seat after working the brakes at the 2022 Olympics, will begin her first full season on the World Cup.

The three Canadian women’s sleds will be pushed by a pool of high-powered athletes including: Niamh Haughey (Scarborough, Ont.); Kelsey Mitchell (Sherwood Park, Alta.) – an Olympic champion in track cycling who joined the sport of bobsleigh this summer; Olympian Dawn Richardson-Wilson (Edmonton); Charlotte Ross (Ottawa), who begins her first season on the World Cup; Skylar Sieben (Cochrane, Alta.)  - a World Cup medallist last season; and Eden Wilson (Calgary).

Canada’s top two men’s crews piloted by Taylor Austin (Lethbridge, Alta.) and Patrick Norton (Ottawa) will have a crew of seven brakemen with them on the World Cup including: Tobi Ade (Calgary), who will make his World Cup debut; former diver turned bobsleigh athlete, Yohan Eskrick-Parkinson (Calgary); Olympian Mike Evelyn O’Higgins (Ottawa); Chris Holmstead (Burlington, Ont.); Shaq Murray-Lawrence (Scarborough, Ont.); Luka Stoikos (Stouffville, Ont.); and Mark Zanette (Woodbridge, Ont.).

“Canada’s National Bobsleigh Program is powered by our experienced leaders, fueled by the drive our newcomers bring to the sport and driven by the diversity that defines us as being truly Canadian with athletes selected to the program from all corners of the country,” said Jesse Lumsden, high-performance director, Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton. “This group of athletes are fiercely determined to achieve their performance goals, and deliver results on the World Cup, while we continue to nurture and develop a deep pool of athletes in a healthy and supportive culture of excellence.”

Five more Canadian sleds will start the 2025-26 season on the North American Cup circuit.

Balancing her time working for the Calgary Fire Department while chasing her Olympic dream, Bianca Ribi (Calgary) will pilot one of two women’s sleds on the North American Cup. Erica Voss (Toronto)will also continue her development in the pilot’s seat on the North American Cup circuit.

Ribi and Voss will be pushed by the following women on the brakes: Ariane Chiasson (Les Coteaux, Que.); Gracie McAllister (Cloverdale, B.C.); Brynn McNabb (White City, Sask.); Valerie Perreault (Quebec City); and Leah Walkeden (Edmonton).

The men’s pilots on the Development Bobsleigh Team – Jay Dearborn (Ottawa), Cyrus Gray (Duncan, B.C.), and Justin Tremblay (Saint-Hubert, Que.) – will also fine tune their driving skills in North America.

Dearborn, a former defensive back in the CFL, along with Gray and Tremblay will have a pool of talented brakemen providing the horsepower for their sleds to start the season including: Chris Ashley (Calgary); Hamilton Tiger-Cats wide receiver, Keaton Bruggeling (Ottawa); D’Andre Clarke-Bastien (Toronto); Mark Mlakar (Mississauga, Ont.); Kenny M’Pindou (Edmonton); Shane Ohrt (Edmonton); Luke Puto (Humboldt, Sask.); and Kyle Stoob (Calgary).

Canada’s Olympic medal-winning bobsleigh pilots – Justin Kripps and Lyndon Rush – will deliver the technical coaching required for the National Bobsleigh Program. Four-time Olympic bobsleigh pilot, Chris Spring, has joined the program to coach the Development Bobsleigh Team.

Athletes will also leverage strength and condition coaching through a continued partnership with the Canadian Sport Institute Alberta, and coach Quin Sekulich, who has helped develop countless sliding-sport athletes into Olympic, World Championship and World Cup podium results over the last decade.

Bobsleigh CANADA Skeleton is a non-profit organization and the national governing body for the sports of bobsleigh and skeleton in Canada. With the support of its valued corporate partners – Karbon, Athabasca Oil Corporation in collaboration with Canada Action’s I Love Canadian Energy campaign, Leeswood Construction, Bomber LD, PX3, Kuritec, Vessi – along with the Government of Canada, Own the Podium and the Canadian Olympic Committee, Bobsleigh CANADA Skeleton develops champions in the community, on and off the track, who have a passion for bobsleigh and skeleton. Please visit us at www.bobsleighcanadaskeleton.ca.