With the opening of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing this morning, the Ottawa Lions will be cheering extra hard for a quartet of familiar faces to the Club. The group includes bobsledders Cody Sorensen and Mike Evelyn, skeleton racer Mirela Rahneva, and curler Rachel Homan.
Beijing will mark the second Games for former hurdler Cody Sorensen, having competed eight years prior in Sochi. The 35-year old left the sport completely after the Games in Russia, and was working as director of mergers and acquisitions with Welch Capital Partners here in Ottawa before taking some time off this fall to return to the World Cup circuit as part of driver Chris Spring’s sled.
Prior to joining the Canadian bobsled team, Sorensen was an accomplished hurdler with the Club, winning multiple medals at the provincial and national level, including take home a national university title in the 60 metre hurdles while studying at the University of Guelph.
Sorensen will be joined in Spring’s sled by Mike Evelyn, who is making his Olympic debut. Prior to finding bobsleigh via RBC’s Training Ground competition, Evelyn skated for the hockey team at Dalhousie University, where he earned his degree in electrical engineering. While hockey was his passion growing up, Evelyn was a member of the Club during the 2010 season where he was a provincial finalist in the discus at the under-18 level.
For skeleton racer Mirela Rahneva, this will be her second Games after finishing 12th fourth years ago in Korea. She is coming off a pair of top-5 finishes on the World Cup circuit, including a bronze at her most recent event in St. Moritz. Rahneva’s roots in sport came were formed in the Club. As an 11-year-old, she’d bike 10+ km each way from home near the Nepean Sportsplex to Terry Fox to attend our annual summer camp. According to meet results her focus at the time was in the middle distance events rather than her current specialty in the speed/power domain.
Rachel Homan’s is synonymous with the sport of curling, but few likely knew she interned with the Club during her fourth year of human kinetics studies at the University of Ottawa. Homan, who competed in the women’s curling competition in 2018, is paired up with fellow Ottawa native John Morris in the mixed doubles event this time around, which started play on Wednesday. The pair is already 3-1 in early round robin play and sits in a tie for second.
Also in Beijing is former sprinter/bobsledder Oluseyi Smith. While not competing on the field of play, Smith is competing for a spot on the International Olympic Committee’s Athletes Commission, which will be voted on by athletes throughout the Games.