Personal information | |
---|---|
Nationality | Canadian |
Born | 1994 Kitchener, Ontario, Canada |
Education | Business degree, Bryant University |
Occupation(s) | Athlete, Entrepreneur |
Height | 6 ft 1 in (185 cm) |
Sport | |
Sport | Bobsleigh |
Team | Canadian National Bobsleigh Team Romanian National Bobsleigh Team |
Alexandra "Alex" Klein (born December 6, 1994) is a Canadian-Romanian professional athlete and former professional basketball player, currently pursuing a spot as brakewoman on Team Romania's bobsleigh team for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano-Cortina.
Klein was born in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario. She attended St. John's Kilmarnock School grades 1-9, later transitioning to Waterloo Collegiate Institute to finish her high school education and athletic pursuits. Alex excelled as a four-sport athlete. She later pursued a degree in business, majoring in marketing, and attended Bryant University in Rhode Island on a full athletic scholarship. A standout basketball player, she graduated in 2017 with accolades including Female Athlete of the Year and First Team All-Conference honors. [1]
Klein's basketball career in Europe was cut short after she was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis. [2]
In 2020, Klein met a physiotherapist affiliated with Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton, who suggested she try the sport. After initially dismissing the idea, she eventually sought training from Joey Nemet, a former World Cup bobsleigh competitor. Klein successfully passed the national testing camp in 2022, earning her place on the team. [3]
In 2022, Alex embarked on a new and exciting challenge—competing in one of the fastest sports on ice. She re-trained her body to meet the demands of bobsleigh and attended her first National Testing Camp for Team Canada in the fall of 2022. [4]
Paired with veteran pilot Melissa Lotholz, Klein achieved notable success during the 2023–2024 North American Cup season, including multiple podium finishes and securing the 2-woman North American Cup titlse. [5] [6] [7]
In 2024, Klein began competing for a spot on the Romanian women’s bobsleigh team, directly vying for the role of brakewoman alongside her pilot, Andreea Grecu. She trained with Olaf Hampel prior to her first season with Romania. Klein stands out as the tallest woman on the circuit in the world at 185 cm.
Heather Moyse is a Canadian athlete and two-time Olympic gold medalist, representing Canada in international competition as a bobsledder, rugby union player, and track cyclist and competing at the Canadian intercollegiate level in rugby, soccer and track and field.
Lea Ann Parsley is a retired American skeleton racer from Granville, Ohio. She was the first female skeleton athlete to win a world cup medal for the United States and earned a silver medal in the women's skeleton event, a first in Olympic history, during the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Winter Games. She was also one of eight athletes chosen to carry the World Trade Center flag into the Opening Ceremony of the 2002 Winter Olympics.
Kaillie Humphries is a Canadian-American bobsledder. Representing Canada, she was the 2010 and 2014 Olympic champion in the two-woman bobsled and the 2018 Olympic bronze medalist with brakewoman Phylicia George. With her victory in 2014, she became the first female bobsledder to defend her Olympic title and was named flagbearer for the Olympic closing ceremony with brakewoman Heather Moyse.
Esmé Kamphuis is a former Dutch heptathlete, who has competed as a bobsledder since 2004. Her best Bobsleigh World Cup finish was second in the two-woman event at Cesana Pariol in the 2010-11 season. She took a bronze medal at the Bobsleigh European Championships in 2011.
Paula Jackson is a British retired bobsledder who competed from 2007 to 2014. She originally started as a brakewoman for Jackie Gunn before taking up piloting.
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Marina Gilardoni is a Swiss skeleton racer and former bobsleigh brakewoman. After starting her sporting career in heptathlon at the club level, Gilardoni began racing bobsleigh in 2007 and earned a place on the Swiss national team. She won gold medals at the Junior World Championships in 2008 behind driver Fabienne Meyer and in 2010 with Sabina Hafner driving. After the 2009–10 season, she switched from bobsleigh to skeleton. In 2018, Gilardoni was selected to represent Switzerland in the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang after the Dutch Olympic Committee refused one of their two entries and it was reallocated to Switzerland.
Elisabeth Vathje is a retired Canadian skeleton racer. In 2008, she was encouraged to try sliding sports by her father, who had shared an airplane trip with members of the Canadian luge team, but as a 14-year-old, she was too young to train bobsleigh, so she tried out for skeleton instead. She used a Bromley sled. Vathje was named one of the three women to represent Canada in skeleton at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang after finishing third in the World Cup season standings for 2017–18. She retired in 2022 after being left off the Canadian team for the 2021–22 season.
Melissa Lotholz is a Canadian bobsledder.
Kate O'Brien is a Canadian female track cyclist and former bobsledder. She won a silver medal at the 2020 Summer Paralympics and a bronze medal at the 2024 Summer Paralympics.
Kimberley Bos is a Dutch skeleton racer who competes on the Skeleton World Cup circuit. She started competing internationally in 2009, originally in bobsleigh, and was selected to the Dutch national team in 2010; she switched to skeleton for the 2013–14 European Cup season. Her personal coach is Urta Rozenstruik, and she rides a Bromley sled. Away from the track, Bos is a physiotherapy student, occasionally serving as "unofficial physio" to the other athletes. Bos was the only woman named to represent the Netherlands in skeleton at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, where she finished eighth. Bos returned for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, where she won the bronze medal becoming the first dutch olympic medal winner in a sliding sport.
Mica Moore is a British women's sprinter and bobsleigher. She competed for Wales in the 4 × 100 metres relay at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, and competed in the 2-women bobsleigh event at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
Alexander Kopacz is a Canadian bobsledder and the reigning Olympic co-champion in the two-man bobsleigh event. He competed in the two-man event at the 2018 Winter Olympics. Kopacz and pilot Justin Kripps tied with the German team of Francesco Friedrich and Thorsten Margis for the gold medal.
Alysia Rissling is a Canadian bobsledder. In 2015, she was the pilot for the first all-woman team in an official four-man bobsleigh race after the event became gender neutral. She competed in the two-woman bobsleigh event for Canada at the 2018 Winter Olympics with Heather Moyse; the pair finished in 6th place.
Mariama Jamanka is a journalist and retired German bobsledder who won Gold in the two-woman event with Lisa Buckwitz at the 2018 Winter Olympics.
Kim Kalicki is a German bobsledder who competes for TuS Eintracht Wiesbaden 1846. She also representing the Germany national team since 2015 and won the silver medal in the two-woman bobsleigh event at the Bobsleigh World Championships in 2020 and 2021 with Kira Lipperheide and Ann-Christin Strack, respectively.
Cynthia Appiah is a Canadian bobsledder who has been competing in the sport since 2014. Appiah made her World Cup debut in 2016. In 2018, she shifted to the pilot position and later made her World Cup debut as a bobsleigh pilot in the 2019/2020 season. At the IBSF World Championships 2021 in Altenberg, Germany, Appiah placed fifth and ninth in monobob and two-woman bobsleigh, respectively.
Dawn Richardson Wilson is a Canadian bobsledder. Richardson Wilson was born in Accra, Ghana; she currently resides in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. As a bobsledder, Richardson Wilson has been in both the pilot and brakewoman positions. She has been involved in a variety of sports, such as rugby, track and field, and ultimate frisbee, but has gained a recent interest in bobsledding. She made her international debut in 2018, with team member Kori Hol as the pilot, on the North American Cup circuit. A year later, in December 2019, Richardson Wilson got into her first World Cup race, finishing fifth place with Christine de Bruin. She became a fulltime World Cup brakewoman in 2020-21, despite the Canadian team only being able to compete in the second half of the season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sara Villani is a Canadian bobsledder.
Kaysha Love is an American bobsledder and former collegiate sprinter. She attended and competed in track and field at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, where she was a two-time Second Team All-American (2017–2018). She was Utah’s 2016 Gatorade State Girls Track and Field Athlete of the Year in high school. She represented the United States at the 2022 Winter Olympics, where she competed in the two-woman bobsled.