Helen Upperton

Helen Lesley Upperton (born October 31, 1979) is a Canadian bobsledder who has competed since 2002. Upperton was born in Ahmadi, Kuwait as her parents involvement in the oil industry meant they traveled abroad.^[2] She holds dual citizenship of both Great Britain and Canada.^[2] Upperton won the silver medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics after previously finishing fourth in the two-woman event at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin. 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 and graduated from the University of Texas in Austin with a BSc.

Helen Upperton

Helen Upperton in Calgary (2010)
Personal information
Full name	Helen Lesley Upperton
Nationality	Canadian
Born	(1979-10-31) October 31, 1979 (age 45)[1] Ahmadi, Kuwait
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)[1]
Weight	70 kg (154 lb; 11 st 0 lb)[1]
Sport
Country	Canada
Sport	Bobsleigh
Event	2-woman
Coached by	Dennis Marineau, Tuffy LaTour, Bruno Mingeon
Achievements and titles
Olympic finals
Medal record Women´s Bobsleigh Representing  Canada Olympic Games 2010 Vancouver Two-woman World Cup Championships 2005-06 Two-woman 2007–08 Two-woman

Upperton also competed in the FIBT World Championships, earning her best finish of fourth in the two-woman event at Altenberg in 2008. Her best overall Bobsleigh World Cup finish was second in the two-woman event in the 2005–06 season.

A former triple jumper at the University of Texas at Austin, Upperton moved to bobsleigh 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, Canada's first women's World Cup win in bobsleigh. One month later she finished fourth in the two-woman event at the 2006 Winter Olympics. Upperton scored a total of six wins and over 20 podium finishes in World Cup competition.^[3]

She won a silver medal in the Two-woman competition at the 2010 Winter Olympics with Shelley-Ann Brown. The gold medal was won by fellow Canadians Kaillie Humphries and Heather Moyse. It marked the first time of the 2010 Olympics that Canadians had won two medals in one event.^[4]

Upperton and Brown announced their retirements from the sport in September 2012.^[3] After retiring Upperton became manager of community relations with WinSport Canada.^[5] Subsequently, she became head coach of WinSport Academy's bobsleigh programme, training developing bobsledders.^[6][7]

Upperton was a commentator for men's and women's bobsleigh and skeleton at the 2014 Winter Olympics and 2018 Winter Olympics with Mark Connolly.^[8]

Career highlights

World Championships

2005 - Calgary, 12th with Jill Salus

2007 - St. Moritz, 6th with Jennifer Ciochetti

2008 - Altenberg, 4th with Jennifer Ciochetti

2009 - Lake Placid, 4th with Jennifer Ciochetti

2011 - Konigssee, 5th with Shelley-Ann Brown

World Cup

2005 - Calgary, 3rd with Heather Moyse

2005 - Igls, 2nd with Heather Moyse

2006 - Königssee, nbn 2nd with Heather Moyse

2006 - St. Moritz, 1st with Heather Moyse

2006 - Park City, 3rd with Jennifer Ciochetti

2006 - Lake Placid, 2nd with Jamie Cruickshank

2007 - Cortina d'Ampezzo, 3rd with Jennifer Ciochetti

2007 - Calgary, 1st with Jennifer Ciochetti

2007 - Lake Placid, 2nd with Jennifer Ciochetti

2008 - Cortina d'Ampezzo, 2nd with Heather Moyse

2008 - Cesana, 1st with Jennifer Ciochetti

2008 - St. Moritz, 3rd with Heather Moyse

2008 - Winterberg, 1st with Jennifer Ciochetti

2008 - Igls, 1st with Heather Moyse

2009 - Altenberg, 2nd with Jennifer Ciochetti

2010 - Calgary, 3rd with Shelley-Ann Brown

2010 - Lake Placid, 3rd with Shelley-Ann Brown

2011 - Cesana, 1st with Shelley-Ann Brown

References

1. "Helen Upperton". International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation. Archived from the original on January 3, 2014. Retrieved December 10, 2010.
2. "Helen Upperton". Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton. Archived from the original on December 4, 2010. Retrieved February 5, 2011.
3. "Canadian women's bobsled duo Upperton and Brown announce retirement". The Globe and Mail. 20 September 2012. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
4. Rutherford, Kristina (February 24, 2010). "Canada finishes 1-2 in women's bobsleigh". CTV Olympics. Retrieved February 24, 2010.
5. Wake, Bev (2 January 2014). "Q&A: Helen Upperton, former Olympian and broadcaster". canada.com. Archived from the original on 22 February 2015. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
6. Falloon, Dan (18 December 2014). "Program hoping to develop bobsleigh". Pique Newsmagazine. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
7. Kingston, Gary (19 December 2014). "'Bad stigma' a big challenge for Whistler track". Vancouver Sun. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
8. "Helen Upperton bio". CBC. Retrieved 2018-02-18.

External links

• Helen Upperton at Team Canada
• Helen Upperton at Olympics.com
• Helen Upperton at the International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation
• Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Helen Upperton". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2012-10-25.
• List of two-woman bobsleigh World Cup champions since 1995