Alysia Rissling

Alysia Rissling (born November 16, 1988) 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.

Alysia Rissling
Alysia Rissling in Altenberg in 2019
Personal information
National teamCanada
Born (1988-11-16) November 16, 1988
Edmonton, Alberta
EducationKinesiology, B.S.
Alma materUniversity of Alberta
Height180 cm (5 ft 11 in)[1]
Weight77 kg (170 lb)[1]
Websitewww.risslingbobsleigh.com
Sport
SportBobsleigh
PositionPilot
PartnerHeather Moyse
Achievements and titles
Olympic finals2018 Winter Olympics

Biography

Rissling was born on November 16, 1988 in Edmonton, Alberta. She received a scholarship to the University of Alberta for track and field and basketball. Rissling graduated in 2011 with her Bachelor of Science degree in Kinesiology.[1]

Rissling played basketball for the University of Alberta Pandas from 2006 until her graduation in 2011.[2] During her time with the Pandas, the team qualified four times to the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) (now U Sports) national championships winning silver in 2007 and bronze in 2009.[3] In 2012, she moved to Calgary to take up bobsledding.[1]

Prior to her first world cup event, Rissling had to raise Can$100,000 in order to purchase a sled for competition, after the Canadian bobsleigh team decided to instead allocate the funds towards the men's team. She raised the money through sponsorships and a waitressing job in a Calgary diner.[4]

Career

On February 7, 2015, in Park City, Utah, as part of the North American cup tour, Rissling piloted the first four-woman team in an official four-man bobsled race with Julia Corrente, Courtenay Farrington, and Josee Theoret.[5] The team was the first female four-person team to compete following the decision to make the event gender neutral in late 2014. The four came in seventh with a time of 1:41.34.[6]

Rissling participated in the 2017 Bobsleigh World Cup in Pyeongchang, South Korea, with brakeman Cynthia Appiah.[7] The duo won bronze at the event with a time of 1:44.06.[8]

Rissling is overall ranked sixth for the 2017–18 Bobsleigh season. In November 2017, she came in seventh in both Lake Placid, New York,[9] and Park City, Utah,[10] with Kristen Bujnowski. On November 24, 2017, Rissling, alongside Cynthia Appiah, finished in seventh in Whistler, British Columbia. In January 2018 with Heather Moyse, she placed fourth in St. Moritz, Switzerland,[11] and fifth place in Königsee, Germany.[12]

2018 Winter Olympics

On January 24, 2018, Team Canada announced the 24 athletes that would be competing for Canada in the bobsleigh and skeleton events. Rissling qualified and made her Olympic debut.[13] She was the pilot for Heather Moyse in the two-woman bobsled.[14] The pair finished 6th after four runs in the bobsled event; their time was 1.18 seconds off that of the gold-medal winners.[15]

References
  1. "Alysia Rissling". Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton. Archived from the original on February 19, 2018. Retrieved February 19, 2018.
  2. "The Prairie Grid Dinner Series supports Canadian winter athletes". Eat North. August 25, 2017. Archived from the original on February 19, 2018. Retrieved February 18, 2018.
  3. J. Mackinnon (February 14, 2015). "MacKinnon: Edmonton's Alysia Rissling chases her dream down the track". Edmonton. The Edmonton Journal. Archived from the original on February 19, 2018. Retrieved February 18, 2018.
  4. Gillespie, Kerry (January 8, 2017). "Passion for bobsledding slippery slope for Canadian Rissling". The Toronto Star. Archived from the original on February 19, 2018. Retrieved February 18, 2018.
  5. Gillespie, Kerry (February 6, 2015). "Canadian bobsled pilot Alysia Rissling breaking new ground". The Toronto Star. Archived from the original on February 19, 2018. Retrieved February 18, 2018.
  6. "Park City 07/02/2015 – 4-man Bobsleigh". International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation. Park City, Utah. February 7, 2015. Archived from the original on March 1, 2018. Retrieved February 18, 2018.
  7. CBC Sports (March 18, 2017). "umphries denied overall title as Rissling takes bobsleigh bronze". Pyeongchang. CBC. Archived from the original on February 16, 2018. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
  8. Peter Fischer; Jin Ho Song. "IBSF World Cup Bob & Skeleton 2016/17 PyeongChang (KOR)" (PDF). International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation. Archived (PDF) from the original on February 19, 2018. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
  9. "Bobsleigh: Humphries et Lotholz triomphent à Lake Placid". Ici Radio Canada (in French). CBC. November 9, 2017. Archived from the original on February 19, 2018. Retrieved February 18, 2018. Deux autres duos représentant l'unifolié étaient de la partie. Christine de Bruin et Cynthia Appiah (1:54,99) ont terminé 6es, tandis qu'Alysia Rissling et Kristen Bujnowski (1:55,17) ont inscrit leurs noms juste en dessous d'elles au classement final.
  10. "Canada's Bobsleigh Teams Celebrate Historic Triple Medal Haul at World Cup in Park City". Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton. Park City, Utah. November 17, 2017. Archived from the original on February 19, 2018. Retrieved February 18, 2018.
  11. "Canadians Rissling and Moyse finish one spot shy of podium" (video). CBC. St. Moritz, Switzerland: CBC – Radio Canada. January 13, 2018. Archived from the original on March 1, 2018. Retrieved February 18, 2018.
  12. "Rissling, Moyse finish fifth". Konigssee, Germany: Saltwire Network. Journal Pioneer. January 21, 2018. Archived from the original on February 19, 2018. Retrieved February 18, 2018.
  13. Ellen McCann (January 24, 2018). "Team Canada bobsleigh and skeleton athletes nominated for PyeongChang 2018". Canadian Olympic Team. Archived from the original on February 18, 2018. Retrieved February 18, 2018.
  14. Simmonds, Jason (February 17, 2018). "Almost time for Moyse, Rissling to compete at Winter Games". Pyeongchang: Saltwire Network. The Guardian. Archived from the original on February 19, 2018. Retrieved February 18, 2018.
  15. "Moyse happy with 6th-place finish in Olympic bobsleigh". CBC News. February 21, 2018. Archived from the original on February 23, 2018. Retrieved February 27, 2018.
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