Canadian Olympic bobsled team named for Milan Cortina Games in February

By Canadian Press on January 23, 2026.

CALGARY — The Canadian Olympic Committee officially nominated its bobsled team for the upcoming Milan 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., 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 posting a season-best sixth-place finish in the World Cup four-man race in Altenberg, Germany. After making his Olympic debut in Beijing 2022, Austin began the journey to Milano Cortina 2026 with a bronze medal at the 2022-23 World Cup opener in Whistler, B.C.

Dearborn, a former CFL defensive back, will also make his second Olympic appearance, but first as a pilot. Dearborn has been developing his driving skills over the last four years while competing on both the North American Cup and World Cup circuits. This season, he reached the podium in 12 of 14 North American Cup races.

Team Canada has won 10 Olympic bobsled medals since 1964, including five golds, two silver and three bronze.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 23, 2026.

The Canadian Press