Two young athletes named to Team Canada’s Gangwon 2024 Youth Olympic bobsleigh team
CALGARY (December 20, 2023) – Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton and the Canadian Olympic Committee have announced Canada’s bobsleigh team selected to compete at the Gangwon 2024 Winter Youth Olympic Games.
The Team Canada bobsleigh team for the Gangwon 2024 Winter Youth Olympic Games is:
Athletes
Talia Melun (Whistler, B.C.)
Isaak Ulmer (Calgary, Alta.)
The athletes were selected based on being the highest ranked eligible Canadian athletes from the 2023-25 International Bobsleigh Skeleton Federation (IBSF) Youth Olympics Ranking List. Only monobob events will be contested at Gangwon 2024.
Fifteen-year-old Talia Melun, recently earned a fourth-place finish at an OMEGA Youth Series event which was held in PyeongChang, South Korea in November – her final event of the eight OMEGA Youth Series events that she competed at throughout 2023 in order to qualify for Gangwon 2024.
Isaak Ulmer earned a fourth-place finish at the Lake Placid stop of the OMEGA Youth Series, which he cites as his bobsleigh achievement that he’s most proud of to date. Ulmer was introduced to the sport in 2021 when he enrolled in a High Performance Athlete Development course at his school and did a learn-to-push session. A student of the sport, Ulmer likes to study videos of past World Cup races, and has his eye on the 2026 or 2030 Olympic Winter Games.
“Qualifying for Gangwon 2024 means that I have proven to myself that anything is possible when I put my mind to it,” said Ulmer. “I want to show what Canada can bring to winter sports, even as a youth. I am excited to see all the other Canadian athletes competing in different sports. I might even go watch some other sports like hockey, which would be really fun!”
The women’s monobob event made its Olympic debut at Beijing 2022, after having been on the Lillehammer 2016 Winter Youth Olympic Games sport program.
Both athletes will be coached by four-time Olympian, Chris Spring, who has recently dove into a coaching career after retiring from competition. Spring will also act as Team Leader for bobsleigh.
“These athletes are moments away from experiencing a once-in-a-lifetime sporting opportunity and I’m extremely excited and grateful to share this journey with them,” said Spring. “The Youth Olympic Games will no doubt challenge and excite these athletes to help motivate them to continue developing in their bobsled careers.”
Bobsleigh will take place January 22 – 23 (Days 3 and 4) at the Alpensia Sliding Centre, the same sliding venue that was used at the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games.
“Congratulations to Talia and Isaak on being nominated to Team Canada for the Youth Olympic Games,” said Lisa Weagle, Team Canada’s Gangwon 2024 Chef de Mission. “These Games will be such a valuable opportunity to gain experience while you push your bobsleigh careers forward as the next generation. We can’t wait to cheer you on!”
The Youth Olympic Games (YOG) are the world’s largest multi-sport event for high-performance young athletes aged 15 – 18. Gangwon 2024 will begin on January 19 and will end on February 1, 2024 and will feature 1900 athletes. Gangwon 2024 will be the fourth edition of the Winter YOG and the first in Asia. It will have a fully gender-balanced sporting program, and will feature seven sports, 15 disciplines, and a total of 81 events.
Prior to being named to Team Canada, all nominations are subject to approval by the Canadian Olympic Committee’s Team Selection Committee following its receipt of nominations by all National Sport Organisations.