Kelsey Mitchell was recruited for track cycling through RBC Training Ground, and eight year later, she’s competing in bobsleigh.Supplied/Dave Holland
When Kelsey Mitchell found out she had qualified to compete at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympic Games, it was a shock.
Mitchell is a seasoned Olympian – after being discovered through RBC Training Ground, she brought home a gold medal in track cycling at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Games and competed at the Paris Summer Games in 2024. But this time is different. Mitchell is competing in the Winter Games for the first time, in bobsleigh.
“It’s slowly sinking in that I’m going to my third Olympics in a brand-new sport,” she says. “Calling my parents to ask if they wanted to come to Italy with me was so cool.”
Last summer, Mitchell was considering retiring after eight years as a track cyclist when she was invited to a bobsleigh push camp, which focuses on developing the explosive power and speed necessary for pushing and jumping into the sled before it accelerates down the track. She says the experience was exciting and reignited the fire she had for sport. She committed fully after just one session.
Mitchell is the first RBC Training Ground Olympian to compete in both the Summer and Winter Games.Supplied/Dave Holland
“It made me fall back in love with sport and being an athlete,” Mitchell says. “I’ve just had so much fun being with the girls and doing this crazy sport where you go 140 kilometres an hour down a track. It’s a thrill for sure.”
How RBC Training Ground discovered her potential
Competing at the Winter Games in bobsleigh is a full circle moment for Mitchell.
After playing soccer at the university level, Mitchell graduated from the University of Alberta thinking that might be the end of her athletic career. She had a lot of downtime to think about what she wanted to do with her life, she says, “and everything kept coming back to sport.”
In August 2017, Mitchell attended an event with RBC Training Ground, a free, nationwide talent identification and funding program designed to uncover young athletes with Olympic potential.
At these events, athletes go through a series of tests measuring speed, strength, power and endurance. Results are compared against benchmarks, and athletes who meet or exceed those benchmarks get invited to further sport-specific testing. From there, 35 athletes are selected as RBC Future Olympians and receive funding from RBC to support their journey to represent Team Canada at the Olympics.
Competing in track cycling at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Games, Mitchell brought home a gold medal in the sprint.SUPPLIED
Mitchell says she was open to any sport at the event she attended – she just wanted to keep being an athlete, working hard and training. In a twist of fate, she initially tried out for bobsleigh but didn’t meet the sport’s speed and strength benchmarks at the time. But RBC Training Ground scouts from Cycling Canada saw her potential and invited her to try track cycling, despite the fact that she didn’t even own a bike at the time.
Two Olympics and one gold medal later, Mitchell’s time to shine in bobsleigh has finally come. It’s a sport that you can join a little later in life, she explains, and eight years of track cycling has built up her strength and power.
Now, Mitchell will be the first RBC Training Ground athlete to compete in both the Summer and Winter Olympics, and one of only a few Canadian Olympians to ever accomplish that feat.
“To be able to travel around the world representing Canada and being an athlete is a dream come true,” Mitchell says. “I don’t think it would have happened without RBC.”
A life-changing experience, with more to come
Mitchell says she still gets emotional when she hears the Canadian national anthem. It brings her back to the moment when she was standing on a podium, at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, a gold medal around her neck for track cycling. She found out later that all her friends and family back home were all singing along.
Mitchell trains in bobsleigh pushing, the initial phase of the race where athletes sprint while pushing the sled to maximum velocity.Supplied/Dave Holland
“No other experience has topped that yet,” Mitchell says. “It’ll forever be one of the proudest moments of my life.”
Now, she’s excited to compete with her fellow RBC Training Ground athletes in Milan Cortina. Prior to the 2026 Winter Games, RBC Training Ground had sent 28 athletes to the Olympics, 12 of whom brought home 14 Olympic medals. This year, 11 RBC Training Ground graduates (including seven first timers) will be representing Team Canada, including Mitchell’s fellow bobsleigh teammate Mike Evelyn O’Higgins and aerial freestyle skier Marion Thénault.
Mitchell says RBC Training Ground changed her life. She encourages any young athlete who dreams of competing in the Olympics to attend one of their free events across the country.
“It’s an amazing program and I hope more people get involved in it and it changes other people’s lives, too.”
Interested in testing out your Olympic potential, or know someone who is? Athletes between 14-25 can sign up for a free event at rbctrainingground.ca.
Advertising feature produced by Globe Content Studio with RBC. The Globe’s editorial department was not involved.