Kelly McKerihen (born 5 May 1986) is a Canadian International

lawn bowler Bowls, also known as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, is a sport in which players try to roll their ball (called a bowl) closest to a smaller ball (known as a "jack" or sometimes a "kitty"). The bowls are shaped (biased), so that they follow a curve ...

. She reached a career high ranking of world number 1 in December 2024.

Biography

In 2007, McKerihen won the triples and fours bronze medals at the

Atlantic Bowls Championships The Atlantic Bowls Championships was a bowls, lawn bowling competition held between national bowls organisations in the Atlantic region. The event was a qualifying event for the World Bowls Championship, World Outdoor Bowls Championships until ...

. She won a bronze medal in the Women's singles at the

2012 World Outdoor Bowls Championship The 2012 World Outdoor Bowls Championship was held at the Lockleys Bowling Club in Adelaide, Australia, from 24 November to 9 December 2012. Some of the qualifying rounds were held at the nearby Holdfast Bowling Club in Glenelg North. Leif Se ...

in Adelaide. Four years later in 2016, she won a bronze medal at the

2016 World Outdoor Bowls Championship The 2016 World Outdoor Bowls Championship was held at the Burnside Bowling Club in Avonhead, Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban a ...

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

in the

singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...

. In November 2017, McKerihen was named to Canada's

2018 Commonwealth Games The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and also known as Gold Coast 2018, were an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that was held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, bet ...

team. In 2020, she was selected for the

2020 World Outdoor Bowls Championship The 2020 World Outdoor Bowls Championship was to be the 14th edition of the World Championships to be held at the Broadbeach Bowls Club, Musgrave Hill Bowls Club and Club Helensvale on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia. There were to be e ...

in Australia but the event was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. In 2022, she competed in the women's triples and the Women's fours at the

2022 Commonwealth Games The 2022 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Birmingham 2022, were an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations that took place in Birmingham, England betw ...

. In 2023, she was selected again as part of the team to represent Canada at the

2023 World Outdoor Bowls Championship The 2023 World Outdoor Bowls Championship is the 14th edition of the World Bowls Championship, held on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia from 29 August to 10 September. The event was long-awaited by the sport because the 2020 World Out ...

. She participated in the women's singles and the women's pairs events. In the singles, McKerihen qualified unbeaten in first place in her group before advancing to the semi final stage, where she beat

Katherine Rednall Katherine Rednall (born 7 January 1996) is an English lawn and indoor bowler from Stowmarket. She is record six times women's world indoor singles champion. She reached a career high ranking of world number 7 in June 2024. Bowls career Indoors ...

to set up a final against Tayla Bruce, where McKerihen lost 21–18. In 2024, McKerihen won the pairs title at the

New Zealand National Bowls Championships The New Zealand National Bowls Championships is organised by Bowls New Zealand. Bowls was introduced in New Zealand in 1861 but the first national championships were not held until 1914. Men's singles Men's pairs Men's fours Women ...

followed by the

Australian Open The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...

fours title with

Leanne Chinery Leanne Marie Chinery (born 24 November 1981) is a Canadian international lawn bowler. Bowls career She was born in Chilliwack, British Columbia and represented Canada at the 2006 Commonwealth Games and the 2014 Commonwealth Games. She was s ...

, Louise Cronan and Emma Boyd. Then she won the

Australian National Bowls Championships The Australian National Bowls Championships and the Australian Open are competitions in Australia for bowls. They are organised by Bowls Australia. Bowls dates back to 1845 in Australia but it was not until 1910, during the 1910 Carnival of Bowl ...

singles in October and in November 2024, McKerihen won the Hong Kong International Classic pairs with Boyd. McKerihen ended 2024 as the number 1 ranked bowler in the world.

Personal life

Her father is Steve McKerihen.

References

External links

Kelly McKerihen
at Bowls Canada * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:McKerihen, Kelly 1986 births Living people Canadian female bowls players Commonwealth Games bowls players for Canada Bowls players at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Bowls players at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Bowls players at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Sportspeople from Toronto 21st-century Canadian sportswomen