Canada’s Pat Norton Drives Four-Man Bobsleigh Squad to Career-Best Sixth on World Cup
IGLS, Aut.—Canada’s Pat Norton shattered his career-best finish on the World Cup bobsleigh circuit, driving his four-man crew to sixth place on Sunday in Igls, Austria.
Norton, who worked his way up in the sport as a brakeman before getting into the pilot’s seat in 2020, teamed up with a veteran crew from Ontario – Mke Evelyn O’Higgins (Ottawa) along with CFLers Keaton Bruggeling (Ottawa) and Shaq Murray-Lawrence (Scarborough, Ont.), to clock a two-run time of 1:41.30.
“It’s exciting to have some breakthrough success in the big sled, but the work is not done yet. We’re building momentum and we’re going to keep pushing forward,” said the 32-year-old Norton, who also hails from the Nation’s Capital.
Norton, who is looking to carry on a rich tradition of medal-winning Canadian bobsleigh pilots, is starting to introduce himself to the bobsleigh world after having been learning his new trade on the North American Cup development circuit. His previous best four-man World Cup finish came last week when he was 13th at the birthplace of the sport in St. Moritz, Sui.
Norton credited the work of his high-powered crew throughout the week and at the start of 1,478-metre track that has played host to two Olympics and a Youth Olympic Games for the breakthrough result.
“The crew is beginning to gel and we are excited for what we all know that we are capable of doing out here,” said Norton. “This is a great confidence booster for us as we now travel back to St. Moritz for a double four-man weekend.”
The newly-formed crew, loaded with potential, is used to performing on the big stage.Evelyn O’Higgins represented Canada at the 2022 Olympics. Bruggeling currently splits his time running routes with the Ottawa Roughnecks in the CFL in addition to pushing bobsleighs around the world, while former Murray-Lawrence also starred on the gridiron prior to chasing a new-found Olympic dream. All dug in to post top-nine pushes in their two starts and provide the horsepower or Norton down the 14-corner chute where the Canadian sled continued to pick up spots on the 25-sled field through each high-banked corner.
“It’s great to see the hard work in the offseason pay off,” said Murray-Lawrence, who is motivated for the 2026 Olympics after being named as an alternate for Team Canada at the Beijing Games. “This is a fairly new crew with a high ceiling, and we will continue to grow and get better. This top-six result is what we needed for our program.”
Norton, who learned the sport as a spare brakemen working on two-time Olympic medallist, Justin Kripps’ team, is driven to succeed. The ultimate team player who has an uncanny work ethic, and passion for mechanics, loves to spend time in the sled shop, tinkering with his sled to set Team Canada up for success on the track.
Norton climbed into the driver's seat in the 2019-20 and says spending that year with Team Kripps made all the difference in his development.
“I learned an incredible amount, just in the sport of bobsleigh and everything that goes behind it,” said Norton earlier this year. “How to train like a professional and how to treat your sled like a professional and it gave me the opportunity to bring that kind of success and mentality to my own crew when I started my own team.”
With Kripps now as his coach, Norton has had a significant amount of success on the North American Cup circuit, regularly sliding onto the podium, building his confidence while making progress to prepare him to take on the sport’s best on the World Cup.
"When I first started this sport, I didn’t think I was going to be where I am today," he aid. "Having the talent and success that we’ve had I feel pretty fortunate to represent the maple leaf and continue to get to do so towards Italy in 2026.”
The Canadians will continue to work on closing the gap on the world’s fastest sleds. Germany’s Francesco Friedrich, Matthias Sommer, Alexandre Schuller and Felix Straub finished on top of the podium Sunday with a time of 1:40.45.
Brad Hall, Taylor Lawrence, Leon Greenwood and Arran Gulliver, of Great Britain, were second at 1:40.73.
Germany’s Johannes Lochner, Georg Fleischhauer, Joshua Tasche and Florian Bauer slid to the bronze-medal step of the podium at 1:40.74.
Veteran Canadian pilot and World Cup four-man medallist, Taylor Austin (Lethbridge, Alta.), Yohan Eskrick-Parkinson (Calgary), Mark Zanette (Woodbridge, Ont.), and Chris Ashley (Calgary), came up just shy of qualifying for the second heat with the top-20 sleds, placing 21st.
Meanwhile, Calgary-based firefighter Bianca Ribi teamed up with Niamh Haughey (Toronto) to lead three Canadian sleds in the two-woman bobsleigh event in Austria.
Ribi and Haughey clocked a two-run time of 1:45.93 for 15th spot.
Two varsity track and field teammates – Melissa Lotholz and Leah Walkeden – brought their Alberta energy together again on Sunday. The former University of Alberta Pandas track and field standouts slid to 17th place at 1:46.08.
Toronto’s Cynthia Appiah continues to search for the fast lines with rookie Skylar Sieben – a former heptathlete from Cochrane, Alta. The Canadian duo slid to 18th place at 1:46.09.
Germany’s Laura Nolte and Deborah Levi were tops on the day with a golden time of 1:44.09. Germany’s Kim Kalicki and Leonie Fiebig were second at 1:44.24, while Lisa Buckwitz and Neele Schuten completed the German sweep of the women’s podium with a time of 1:44.44.
Complete Igls World Cup Four-Man Results
Complete Igls World Cup Two-Woman Results
Bobsleigh CANADA Skeleton is a non-profit organization and the national governing body for the sports of bobsleigh and skeleton in Canada. With the support of its valued corporate partners – Karbon, Athabasca Oil Corporation in collaboration with Canada Actions I Love Energy, Joe Rocket and Driving Force – along with the Government of Canada, Own the Podium and the Canadian Olympic Committee, Bobsleigh CANADA Skeleton develops champions in the community, on and off the track, who have a passion for bobsleigh and skeleton. Please visit us at www.bobsleighcanadaskeleton.ca.