Anne O'Shea (born September 5, 1987) is an American

skeleton racer Skeleton is a winter sliding sport in which a person rides a small sled, known as a skeleton bobsled (or -sleigh), down a frozen track while lying face down and head-first. The sport and the sled may have been named from the bony appearance of ...

. She got interested in skeleton after meeting the father of skeletoner John Daly at the

Empire State Games The Empire State Games are a set of annual Olympic-style competitions for amateur athletes from the state of New York, encompassing several divisions and allowing athletes of all ages to compete. It was a member of the National Congress of State ...

in 2004, and was first selected to the national team in 2006; like many skeleton and bobsled racers, she came to the sport from

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 eve ...

. O'Shea attended California University of Pennsylvania. She has won the national championship three times in her career, and was twice selected USA Bobsled-Skeleton Athlete of the Year. Away from the track, O'Shea is an MBA student at

DeVry University DeVry University () is a private for-profit university with its headquarters in Naperville, Illinois. It was founded in 1931 by Herman A. DeVry and is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. DeVry is predominantly an online educator but ...

's Keller Graduate School of Management.

Notable results

O'Shea began her international competition career on the

North American Cup North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' is ...

tour in the 2006–07 season, with top-two finishes in four of her first five races. She moved up to the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

circuit for the 2007–08 season, finishing tenth in races at Calgary and

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, ...

and ninth at the Junior World Championships. The following season, she dropped back to the North American and Intercontinental Cups, but recorded five NAC podiums and five top-ten results on the ICC, as well as improving her Junior World Championship ranking to eighth. O'Shea remained on the ICC for the 2009–10 season, but was promoted back to the World Cup the following year. She attended her first

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

in 2011 at

Königssee The Königssee is a natural lake in the extreme southeast Berchtesgadener Land district of the German state of Bavaria, near the Austrian border. Most of the lake is within the Berchtesgaden National Park. Description Situated within the Berch ...

, where she finished 23rd. O'Shea recorded her first World Cup podium with a silver at La Plagne in 2011, but spent the following two seasons on the lower-level tours. Returning to World Cup competition in 2014–15, she had a disappointing season with her best results being two ninth-place finishes and an 18th at the World Championships. In the 2015–16 season, however, she earned her first gold medal, at her home track in Lake Placid, along with a silver at Whistler and a fifth-place performance in the 2016 World Championships at

Igls Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol and the fifth-largest city in Austria. On the River Inn, at its junction with the Wipp Valley, which provides access to the Brenner Pass to the south, it had a po ...

— finishing the season's overall World Cup rankings in fourth place, her best ever. She did not return to the same form for the 2016–17 season, however, with two sixth-place finishes as her best results and a 19th-place finish at the

. O'Shea began the Olympic 2017–18 season with a poor performance at the national team trials, which demoted her to the Intercontinental Cup to start the year, but in January, 2018, she took

Katie Uhlaender Katie Uhlaender (born July 17, 1984) is an American skeleton racer who has competed since 2003. She has won six medals at the FIBT World Championships with two gold (women's skeleton: FIBT World Championships 2012, mixed bobsleigh-skeleton team ...

's place on the World Cup squad for the race at Altenberg while Uhlaender raced the ICC event at St. Moritz. O'Shea was the only one of the three US women to make the cut, and finished in 18th place. Both women returned to their regular circuits for the following race. O'Shea won the US national championship in 2011, 2013, and 2017.

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External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Oshea, Annie 1987 births Living people Sportspeople from Rockville Centre, New York People from Lake Placid, New York