Helen Lesley Upperton (born October 31, 1979) is a Canadian

bobsled 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 ...

der who has competed since 2002. Upperton was born in Ahmadi,

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

as her parents involvement in the oil industry meant they traveled abroad. She holds dual citizenship of both

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. Upperton won the silver medal at the

2010 Winter Olympics )'' , nations = 82 , athletes = 2,626 , events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = February 12, 2010 , closing = February 28, 2010 , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy GreeneWayne Gretz ...

after previously finishing fourth in the two-woman event at the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially the XX Olympic Winter Games ( it, XX Giochi olimpici invernali) and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February 2006 in Turin, Italy. This marked the second t ...

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

. In 2020 Upperton won a Canadian Screen Award for “Best Sports Analyst” for her coverage of the Bobsleigh World Championship event with Mark Lee. She went to high school at

Dr. E.P. Scarlett High School Dr. E.P. Scarlett High School is a public senior high school located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The school was named after Earle Parkhill Scarlett, a Calgary physician, educator, scholar and writer. The school is run by the Calgary Board of Educ ...

and graduated from the University of Texas in Austin with a BSc. Upperton also competed in the

FIBT World Championships The IBSF World Championships (known as the FIBT World Championships until 2015), part of the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation, have taken place on an annual basis since 1930. Starting with 2002, championships of non-Winter Olympic ...

, earning her best finish of fourth in the two-woman event at Altenberg in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

. Her best overall

Bobsleigh World Cup The Bobsleigh World Cup is an annual bobsleigh competitions. It has taken place since the 1984 Winter Olympics. Below is a lists of season champions. Each table shows the country and driver only. Combined men's Debuted: 1985. Medal table Two- ...

finish was second in the two-woman event in the 2005-06 season. A former

triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to the long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down th ...

er at the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

, Upperton moved to

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 ...

in 2002. In the 2005-06 season she won four medals on the World Cup including a gold at an event in St. Moritz,

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 ...

, Canada's first women's World Cup win in bobsleigh. One month later she finished fourth in the two-woman event at the

. Upperton scored a total of six wins and over 20 podium finishes in World Cup competition. She won a silver medal in the Two-woman competition at the

with

Shelley-Ann Brown Shelley-Ann Camille Brown (born March 15, 1980) is a former Canadian bobsledder who has competed since 2006. She was born in Scarborough, Ontario to Jamaican immigrant parents, and also raised in nearby Pickering, Ontario. Brown was recruited to ...

. The gold medal was won by fellow Canadians

Kaillie Humphries Kaillie Humphries (born Kaillie Simundson; September 4, 1985) is a Canadian-American bobsledder. Representing Canada, she was the 2010 and 2014 Olympic champion in the two-woman bobsled and the 2018 Olympic bronze medalist with brakewoman Phy ...

and

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 ...

. It marked the first time of the 2010 Olympics that Canadians had won two medals in one event. Upperton and Brown announced their retirements from the sport in September 2012. After retiring Upperton became manager of community relations with

WinSport Canada The Calgary Olympic Development Association (CODA), operating as WinSport, is a non-profit organization based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada whose mandate is to provide training and development to Canada's Olympic athletes, and to maintain the facili ...

. Subsequently she became head coach of WinSport Academy's bobsleigh programme, training developing bobsledders. Upperton was a commentator for men's and women's bobsleigh and skeleton 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 ...

and

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 ...

with

Mark Connolly Mark Gerard Connolly (born 16 December 1991) is an Irish footballer who plays for Derry City. He has previously played for Bolton Wanderers, St Johnstone, Macclesfield Town, Crawley Town, Kilmarnock, Dundee United, Dunfermline Athletic and ...

Career highlights

;World Championships: :2005 -

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 ...

, 12th with Jill Salus :2007 - St. Moritz, 6th with

Jennifer Ciochetti Jennifer Ciochetti (born December 2, 1984) is a Canadians, Canadian bobsledder who has competed since 2006. Ciochetti was a world champion in 2012 in the two-woman event and also won a bronze medal in the team event that year as well. Career Desp ...

:2008 - Altenberg, 4th with

:2009 - Lake Placid, 4th with

:2011 - Konigssee, 5th with

;World Cup: :2005 -

, 3rd with

:2005 -

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 pop ...

, 2nd with

:2006 -

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 Berchte ...

, nbn 2nd with

:2006 - St. Moritz, 1st with

:2006 -

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, ...

, 3rd with

:2006 - Lake Placid, 2nd with Jamie Cruickshank :2007 -

Cortina d'Ampezzo Cortina d'Ampezzo (; lld, Anpezo, ; historical de-AT, Hayden) is a town and ''comune'' in the heart of the southern (Dolomitic) Alps in the Province of Belluno, in the Veneto region of Northern Italy. Situated on the Boite river, in an alp ...

, 3rd with

:2007 -

, 1st with

:2007 - Lake Placid, 2nd with

:2008 -

, 2nd with

:2008 -

Cesana Cesana Torinese (French ''Césanne'') is a '' comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Turin in the Italian region Piedmont, located about west of Turin, on the border with France. Cesana is a popular winter ski resort, being connect ...

, 1st with

:2008 - St. Moritz, 3rd with

:2008 -

Winterberg Winterberg ( Westphalian: ''Winnenmerg'') is a town in the Hochsauerland district of North Rhine-Westphalia, central Germany and a major winter sport resort of the Wintersport Arena Sauerland. Geography Winterberg is located in the middle of ...

, 1st with

:2008 -

, 1st with

:2009 - Altenberg, 2nd with

:2010 -

, 3rd with

:2010 - Lake Placid, 3rd with

:2011 -

, 1st with

References

External links

* * * *
List of two-woman bobsleigh World Cup champions since 1995
{{DEFAULTSORT:Upperton, Helen 1979 births Living people Athletes from Calgary Canadian female bobsledders Canadian female triple jumpers Bobsledders at the 2006 Winter Olympics Bobsledders at the 2010 Winter Olympics Olympic bobsledders of Canada Olympic silver medalists for Canada University of Texas at Austin alumni Olympic medalists in bobsleigh Medalists at the 2010 Winter Olympics Canadian sports coaches 21st-century Canadian women