Georgia Simmerling (born 11 March 1989) is a Canadian road and

track Track or Tracks may refer to: Routes or imprints * Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity * Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across * Desire path, a line worn by people taking the shorte ...

cyclist, who currently competes for

UCI Women's Team A UCI Women's Team is a women's road bicycle team sanctioned by the International Cycling Union ( UCI). These teams compete in the major women's bicycle races including the UCI Women's Road World Cup and the team time trial for trade teams at the ...

. Simmerling has also previously competed in

alpine skiing Alpine skiing, or downhill skiing, is the pastime of sliding down snow-covered slopes on skis with fixed-heel bindings, unlike other types of skiing ( cross-country, Telemark, or ski jumping), which use skis with free-heel bindings. Whether for ...

and

skicross Ski cross is a skiing competition which incorporates terrain features traditionally found in freestyle skiing with courses which include big-air jumps and high-banked turns. In spite of the fact that it is a timed racing event, it is often cons ...

, and is the first Canadian to compete in three different sports in three different Olympic Games. She won a bronze medal in team pursuit cycling at the 2016 Summer Olympics in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

, and also won a silver medal in team pursuit at the 2016 World Championships. She finished fourth overall in the

team pursuit The team pursuit is a track cycling event similar to the individual pursuit, except that two teams, each of up to four riders, compete, starting on opposite sides of the velodrome. Race format Both men's and women's events are competed over ...

cycling event, representing Canada at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

Athletics career

Alpine skiing

Simmerling represented Canada in

at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games, where her best result was a 27th place in the

super giant slalom Super giant slalom, or super-G, is a racing discipline of alpine skiing. Along with the faster downhill, it is regarded as a "speed" event, in contrast to the technical events giant slalom and slalom. It debuted as an official World Cup event ...

. She was a member of the Canadian Alpine Ski Team for the previous five years, however she suffered a catastrophic injury in 2011. Simmerling sustained a concussion as well as suffering

MCL The litre (international spelling) or liter (American English spelling) (SI symbols L and l, other symbol used: ℓ) is a metric unit of volume. It is equal to 1 cubic decimetre (dm3), 1000 cubic centimetres (cm3) or 0.001 cubic metre (m3) ...

injuries in both knees.

Skicross

In the spring of 2011 she decided to switch to

ski cross Ski cross is a skiing competition which incorporates terrain features traditionally found in freestyle skiing with courses which include big-air jumps and high-banked turns. In spite of the fact that it is a timed racing event, it is often cons ...

from alpine skiing. During the next season she crashed out during a race and broke three vertebrae in her neck and back. She was in an upper body neck brace for seven weeks. She made her breakthrough during the 2013–14 World Cup season, taking seven top ten finishes on the World Cup and rounding out the season with consecutive third places in

Åre Åre () is a locality and one of the leading Scandinavian ski resorts situated in Åre Municipality, Jämtland County, Sweden with 3,200 inhabitants in 2018. It is, however, not the seat of the municipality, which is Järpen. 25% of the local eco ...

and

La Plagne La Plagne () is a French ski area in the alpine valley of the Tarentaise (Savoie). Since 2003, La Plagne and the neighbouring resort of Les Arcs form Paradiski's ski area. It is currently owned by Compagnie des Alpes. In 2014, La Plagne was ...

. Simmerling competed for Canada at the

2014 Winter Olympics , ''Zharkie. Zimnie. Tvoi'') , nations = 88 , events = 98 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , athletes = 2,873 , opening = 7 February 2014 , closing = 23 February 2014 , opened_by = President Vladimir Putin , cauldron = , stadium = Fisht Olympic ...

ski cross Ski cross is a skiing competition which incorporates terrain features traditionally found in freestyle skiing with courses which include big-air jumps and high-banked turns. In spite of the fact that it is a timed racing event, it is often cons ...

where she placed 14th overall. The following season she scored second places in World Cup competitions on home snow in

Nakiska Nakiska is a ski resort in western Canada, in the Kananaskis Country region of the province of Alberta. It is located from Calgary, west on Highway 1 (Trans-Canada Highway) and south on Highway 40 (Kananaskis Trail). "Nakiska" is a Cree word me ...

and in the French resort of

Val Thorens Val Thorens (), is a ski town located in the Tarentaise Valley, Savoie, French Alps at an altitude of . It is located in the commune of Saint-Martin-de-Belleville in the Savoie department. The resort forms part of the Les Trois Vallées ski are ...

, finishing behind teammate

Marielle Thompson Marielle Thompson (born June 15, 1992) is a Canadian freestyle skier specializing in ski cross. She is the 2014 Winter Olympic and 2019 World champion in women's ski cross, as well as a three-time FIS World Cup Crystal Globe winner as the top ...

both times. She started her return to ski cross competition in the 2016–17 World Cup with three ninth places and an eighth, before taking the first podium of her comeback when she finished third in the first of two rounds at

Innichen Innichen (; it, San Candido , lld, Sanciana) is a municipality in South Tyrol in northern Italy. It is located in the Puster Valley on the Drava River, about northeast of Bolzano, on Italy's border with Austria. It hosts Italy’s International ...

, again behind Thompson.

Track cycling

After suffering a wrist injury in ski cross competition, Simmerling switched to competitive

track cycling Track cycling is a bicycle racing sport usually held on specially built banked tracks or velodromes using purpose-designed track bicycles. History Track cycling has been around since at least 1870. When track cycling was in its infancy, it wa ...

. After having plates and screws inserted in her wrist from her surgery, she started training on the bike within a week of suffering the wrist injury. Simmerling won a gold medal in team pursuit on her debut on the World Cup tour with

Jasmin Glaesser Jasmin Duehring (née Glaesser; born July 8, 1992) is a German-born Canadian cyclist, who currently rides for American amateur team . Duehring was part of the Canadian team that won bronze medals at the 2012 Summer Olympics and the 2016 Summer Ol ...

, Laura Brown, and Steph Roorda. She would go on to win silver at the 2015 UCI Track World Championships with Glaesser, and new teammates

Allison Beveridge Allison Beveridge (born 1 June 1993) is a Canadian professional racing cyclist, who most recently rode for UCI Women's Continental Team . She rode at the 2015 UCI Track Cycling World Championships, winning bronze medals in the team pursuit and t ...

and

Kirsti Lay Kirsti Lay (born 7 April 1988) is a Canadian former professional racing cyclist, who rode professionally for UCI Women's Team between 2016 and 2019. She rode at the 2015 UCI Track Cycling World Championships, winning a bronze medal in the Team P ...

. Simmerling participated as part of Canada's 2016 Olympic team in

. Simmerling became the first Canadian athlete to compete at the Olympics in three different sports. There she cycled to a bronze medal in the team pursuit with Glaesser, Beveridge, Lay, and Brown. After the win she announced that she would begin training for ski cross again at the

2018 Winter Olympics , nations = 93 , athletes = 2,922 (1,680 men and 1,242 women) , events = 102 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = , closing = , opened_by = President Moon Jae-in , cauldron = Kim Yun-a , stadium = Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium , winte ...

. She remains invested in cycling, having competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics and finishing fourth overall in the team pursuit.

Personal life

Simmerling has been in a relationship with Stephanie Labbé since 2016. They were engaged in August 2021.

References

External links

Georgia Simmerling at the 2010 Winter Olympics

Georgia Simmerling's Official Website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Simmerling, Georgia 1989 births Alpine skiers at the 2010 Winter Olympics Association footballers' wives and girlfriends Canadian female alpine skiers Canadian female freestyle skiers Canadian female cyclists Canadian track cyclists Cyclists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Cyclists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Freestyle skiers at the 2014 Winter Olympics Lesbian sportswomen Canadian LGBT sportspeople LGBT cyclists LGBT skiers Living people Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic alpine skiers of Canada Olympic bronze medalists for Canada Olympic cyclists of Canada Olympic freestyle skiers of Canada Olympic medalists in cycling Skiers from Vancouver