Elisabeth Vathje (born March 17, 1994, in

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 ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

) is a retired Canadian skeleton racer. In 2008, she was encouraged to try sliding sports by her father, who had shared an airplane trip with members of the Canadian luge team, but as a 14-year-old, she was too young to train bobsleigh, so she tried out for skeleton instead. She used a Bromley sled. Vathje was named one of the three women to represent Canada in

skeleton at the 2018 Winter Olympics Skeleton at the 2018 Winter Olympics was held at the Alpensia Sliding Centre near Pyeongchang, South Korea. The events were scheduled to take place between 15 and 17 February 2018. A total of two skeleton events were held, one each for men and ...

Pyeongchang Pyeongchang ( , ; in full, ''Pyeongchang-gun'' ) is a county in the province of Gangwon-do, South Korea, located in the Taebaek Mountains region. It is home to several Buddhist temples, including Woljeongsa. It is about east southeast of Seo ...

after finishing third in the World Cup season standings for 2017–18. She retired in 2022 after being left off the Canadian team for the 2021–22 season.

Notable results

Vathje's first international race was on the North American Cup in 2010, at Lake Placid, where she finished 8th. The following season, she finished 16th in her first Junior World Championships and continued to race on the North American circuit, taking her first international gold at Lake Placid in 2013. Vathje was promoted to the Intercontinental Cup during the 2013–14 season, and won a silver medal at her fourth Junior Worlds in

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 ...

, Germany, earning her a promotion to the World Cup squad. In the 2014–15 World Cup season, her first on the top level of international sliding, Vathje had five podium finishes including one gold medal, at

, and three silvers, in Lake Placid,

St. Moritz St. 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 the administrative region of Maloja in the Swiss ...

and

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 ...

. She subsequently took home gold at races in Whistler (

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

) and

(

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

), as well as several additional podium finishes. Vathje finished the 2017–18 season with 1470 points, ranking third, her best season in the overall World Cup rankings.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vathje, Elisabeth 1994 births Canadian female skeleton racers Living people Bobsledders from Calgary Skeleton racers from Calgary Skeleton racers at the 2018 Winter Olympics Olympic skeleton racers for Canada 21st-century Canadian sportswomen