Georgia Simmerling

Georgia Simmerling (born 11 March 1989) is a Canadian road and track cyclist, who currently competes for UCI Women's Team Sho-Air TWENTY20. Simmerling has also previously competed in alpine skiing and skicross, and is the first Canadian to compete in three different sports in three different Olympic Games.[2]

Georgia Simmerling
Simmerling in 2020
Personal information
Born (1989-03-11) 11 March 1989
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Height1.72 m (5 ft 7 1⁄2 in)
Weight67 kg (148 lb; 10.6 st)
Cycling career
Team information
Current teamSho-Air TWENTY20
Discipline
RoleRider
Amateur team
2019Sho-Air TWENTY20 Development Program[1]
Professional team
2019–Sho-Air TWENTY20
Sport
ClubMont-Orignal, Lac-Etchemin
Medal record
Representing  Canada
Women's track cycling
Summer Olympics
2016 Rio de JaneiroTeam pursuit
World Championships
2016 LondonTeam pursuit

She won a bronze medal in team pursuit cycling at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, and also won a silver medal in team pursuit at the 2016 World Championships.

Personal life

Simmerling grew up ski racing on the North Shore of Vancouver at Grouse Mountain. She lives in West Vancouver with her partner Stephanie Labbe and trains at Level 10 Fitness in North Vancouver and at the Olympic Athlete's Training Centre in Whistler.

Athletics career

Alpine skiing

Simmerling represented Canada in alpine skiing at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games,[2] where her best result was a 27th place in the super giant slalom.[3] 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 injuries in both knees.[2]

Skicross

In the spring of 2011 she decided to switch to ski cross 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.[2] 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 and La Plagne.[4] Simmerling competed for Canada at the 2014 Winter Olympics in ski cross where she placed 14th overall.[3] The following season she scored second places in World Cup competitions on home snow in Nakiska[4] and in the French resort of Val Thorens, finishing behind teammate Marielle Thompson both times.[5] 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, again behind Thompson.[6][7]

Track cycling
Winning the bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics.

After suffering a wrist injury in ski cross competition, Simmerling switched to competitive track cycling.[2] 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.[2] Simmerling won a gold medal in team pursuit on her debut on the World Cup tour with Jasmin Glaesser, 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 and Kirsti Lay.[2]

Simmerling participated as part of Canada's 2016 Olympic team in track cycling.[8] Simmerling became the first Canadian athlete to compete at the Olympics in three different sports.[9][10] There she cycled to a bronze medal in the team pursuit with Glaesser, Beveridge, Lay, and Brown.[11] After the win she announced that she would begin training for ski cross again at the 2018 Winter Olympics.[11]

See also
  • Clara Hughes, Canadian cyclist who competed at both Summer and Winter Olympics

References
  1. "Sho-Air TWENTY20 Announces 2019 Roster with 4 Canadians". CanadianCyclist.com. Canadian Cyclist. 16 January 2019. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
  2. "Georgia Simmerling". Canadian Olympic Committee. Retrieved 18 February 2010.
  3. Man, Vincent (4 November 2016). "Canadian Olympian Georgia Simmerling 'stronger' in ski cross return". metronews.ca. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
  4. "Freestyle Skiing World Cup - Ski Cross: Georgia Simmerling". International Ski Federation. Archived from the original on 24 July 2018. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
  5. "Canada's Marielle Thompson, Georgia Simmerling finish 1-2 in women's World Cup skicross event". canada.com. 9 January 2015. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
  6. "Canada's Thompson, Simmerling land on ski cross podium". CBC.ca. 21 December 2016. Retrieved 26 December 2016.
  7. "Thompson and Simmerling Go 2-3 on the World Cup Podium". Alpine Canada. 21 December 2016. Retrieved 26 December 2016.
  8. Tozer, Jamie (29 June 2016). "Returning Olympians highlight Canada's cycling team". www.olympic.ca. Canadian Olympic Committee. Retrieved 29 June 2016.
  9. A league of her own: Georgia Simmerling heading to 3rd Olympics in 3rd sport
  10. Simmerling, Georgia (July 2016). "Georgia Simmerling's quest for Olympic medal takes her on historic road: Cyclist set to become 1st Canadian woman to compete in 3 different sports at the Olympics". CBC Sports. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  11. "Open-door policy helps Canada win cycling bronze at Rio Olympics: Feschuk". Toronto Star. 13 August 2016.
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