Alysia Rissling (born November 16, 1988) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

bobsledder Bobsleigh or bobsled is a team winter sport that involves making timed runs down narrow, twisting, banked, iced tracks in a gravity-powered sleigh. International bobsleigh competitions are governed by the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Feder ...

. In 2015, she was the pilot for the first all-woman team in an official four-man

bobsleigh Bobsleigh or bobsled is a team winter sport that involves making timed runs down narrow, twisting, banked, iced tracks in a gravity-powered sleigh. International bobsleigh competitions are governed by the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Feder ...

race after the event became

gender neutral Gender neutrality (adjective form: gender-neutral), also known as gender-neutralism or the gender neutrality movement, is the idea that policies, language, and other social institutions (social structures or gender roles) should avoid distinguish ...

. She competed in the two-woman bobsleigh event for

Canada at the 2018 Winter Olympics Canada competed at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, from February 9 to 25, 2018. It was the nation's 23rd appearance at the Winter Olympics, having competed at every Games since their inception in 1924. Canada competed in all ...

with

Heather Moyse Heather Moyse (born July 23, 1978) is a Canadian athlete and two-time Olympic gold medalist, representing Canada in international competition as a bobsledder, rugby union player, and track cyclist and competing at the Canadian intercollegiate le ...

; the pair finished in 6th place.

Biography

Rissling was born on November 16, 1988 in

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

. She received a scholarship to the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexander Cameron Rutherfor ...

for

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

. Rissling graduated in 2011 with her Bachelor of Science degree in Kinesiology. Rissling played basketball for the University of Alberta Pandas from 2006 until her graduation in 2011. During her time with the Pandas, the team qualified four times to the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) (now

U Sports U Sports (stylized as U SPORTS) is the national sport governing body of university sport in Canada, comprising the majority of degree-granting universities in the country. Its equivalent body for organized sports at colleges in Canada is the Ca ...

) national championships winning silver in 2007 and bronze in 2009. In 2012, she moved to

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

to take up bobsledding. Prior to her first world cup event, Rissling had to raise 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.

Career

On February 7, 2015, in

Park City Park City may refer to: a city in Utah. Places * National Park City, London, England, UK; see parks and open spaces in London in the United States * Park City, Illinois * Park City, Kansas * Park City, Kentucky * Park City, Montana * 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. The team was the first female four-person team to compete following the decision to make the event

in late 2014. The four came in seventh with a time of 1:41.34. Rissling participated in the 2017 Bobsleigh World Cup in Pyeongchang, South Korea, with brakeman Cynthia Appiah. The duo won bronze at the event with a time of 1:44.06. Rissling is overall ranked sixth for the 2017–18 Bobsleigh season. In November 2017, she came in seventh in both Lake Placid, New York, and Park City, Utah, 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 St. Moritz (also german: Sankt Moritz, rm, , it, San Maurizio, french: Saint-Moritz) is a high Alpine resort town in the Engadine in Switzerland, at an elevation of about above sea level. It is Upper Engadine's major town and a municipality in ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, and fifth place in

Königsee Königsee is a town and a municipality in the district of Saalfeld-Rudolstadt, in Thuringia, Germany. It is situated east of Ilmenau, and south of Erfurt. The present municipality was formed on 31 December 2012 by the merger of the former muni ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

2018 Winter Olympics

On January 24, 2018, Team Canada announced the 24 athletes that would be competing for Canada in the bobsleigh and

skeleton A skeleton is the structural frame that supports the body of an animal. There are several types of skeletons, including the exoskeleton, which is the stable outer shell of an organism, the endoskeleton, which forms the support structure inside ...

events. Rissling qualified and made her Olympic debut. She was the pilot for Heather Moyse in the two-woman bobsled. The pair finished 6th after four runs in the bobsled event; their time was 1.18 seconds off that of the gold-medal winners.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rissling, Alysia 1988 births Living people Bobsledders at the 2018 Winter Olympics Canadian female bobsledders Olympic bobsledders for Canada Sportspeople from Calgary Sportspeople from Edmonton University of Alberta alumni 21st-century Canadian women