Canadian bobsled team named for Milano-Cortina Olympics

The Canadian Olympic Committee officially nominated its bobsled team for the upcoming Milano-Cortina Games on Friday.

Canada will have three sleds for the two-woman event, and two sleds for each of the women's monobob, two-man and four-man events.

Toronto's Cynthia Appiah, Melissa Lotholz of Barrhead, Alta., and Canada's Bianca Ribi will all pilot sleds, with Appiah and Lotholz also competing in monobob.

Kelsey Mitchell of Sherwood Park, Alta., who competed in the Tokyo Olympics as a cyclist, Edmonton's Dawn Richardson-Wilson, Skylar Sieben of Cochrane, Alta., Toronto's Niamh Haughey and Calgary's Eden Wilson will all be crew.

On the men's side, Taylor Austin of Lethbridge, Alta., and Jay Dearborn of Yarker, Ont., will be pilots.

Keaton Bruggeling of St. Catharines, Ont., Calgary's Yohan Eskrick-Parkinson, Ottawa's Mike Evelyn O'Higgins, Toronto's Shaq Murray-Lawrence, Luka Stoikos of Stouffville, Ont., Mark Zanette of Woodbridge, Ont., and Chris Holmstead of Burlington, Ont., will be crew.

Austin, Dearborn, O'Higgins, and Murray-Lawrence will also compete in two-man bobsled.

Lotholz will make her third Olympic appearance, and second as a pilot.

She's also been Canada's most consistent pilot throughout the 2025-26 season with six top-six finishes in seven IBSF World Cup monobob races.

A winner of 18 World Cup and two world championship medals throughout her career, Lotholz competed at Pyeongchang 2018 as a brakewoman before transitioning to the pilot's seat.

Appiah captured a monobob silver medal at a World Cup stop in Winterberg, Germany, earlier this month, adding to a season that began with another lifelong goal: competing on the Jeopardy! game show.

Austin secured his second trip to the Olympics as a pilot days after