Anne O'Shea (born September 5, 1987) is an American skeleton racer. She got interested in skeleton after meeting the father of skeletoner John Daly at the

Empire State Games The Empire State Games were 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 St ...

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 (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

. O'Shea attended

California University of Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Western University, California (abbreviated as PennWest California) is a campus of Pennsylvania Western University in California, Pennsylvania, United States. The campus had an enrollment of 2,717 as of fall 2024. Founded in 1852 ...

. 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's Keller Graduate School of Management.

Notable results

O'Shea began her international competition career on the North American Cup 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 name is ...

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

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

and 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 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 Bercht ...

, where she finished 23rd. O'Shea recorded her first World Cup podium with a silver at

La Plagne La Plagne () is a French ski area in the Alps, alpine valley of the Tarentaise Valley, Tarentaise (Savoie). Since 2003, La Plagne and the neighbouring resort of Les Arcs form the Paradiski ski area. It is currently owned by Compagnie des Alpes. ...

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

, 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 (; ) is the capital of Tyrol (federal state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the Wipptal, Wipp Valley, which provides access to the ...

— 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'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.

References

External links

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