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While training for a shot at the Canadian Football League in 2023, Keaton Bruggeling didn’t expect to be approached by Olympic-level bobsledders instead.
Three years later, the 27-year-old — who is now also a Hamilton Tiger-Cat — is making his first Olympic appearance as part of Canada’s four-man bobsleigh team at the 2026 Milano-Cortina Olympics. His first competition there will be next weekend.
But the journey came with one expensive road bump: a $25,000 fee to compete at the Games.
The life-long St. Catharines, Ont., resident said the season was made possible thanks to family, friends and strangers, who helped him raise over $10,200 through an online crowdfunding campaign.
As the national bobsleigh federation faces funding cuts, Bruggeling started an online crowdfunding campaign to fundraise his participation at the Winter Games. (Screenshot/GoFundMe)
“It was just amazing to see how many people came together and … just believed in me,” said Bruggeling. “It warms my heart to think that I have this kind of support and this community behind me.”
Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton lost over $1 million in funding before the season began, resulting in a huge jump in team fees this year: $25,000 per athlete.
“We lacked funding on all levels of the Canadian Olympic sport,” said Bruggeling.
As CBC Sports has reported, Team Canada’s sleds for the sport are used 2018 models bought from Team Germany.
“In bobsleigh, the Germans are the best,” said Bruggeling. “They have the best equipment. They have the most funding. They tend to dominate the sport.”
When asked which team he’s eyeing to beat, he says Team U.S and Team Switzerland.
“As much as I’m hoping to beat them, I’m wishing them the best because they’re all my friends,” said Bruggeling. “We spend a lot of time together. It’s a really amazing community, bobsleigh as a whole.”
WATCH | Keaton Bruggeling thanks friends, family and St. Catharines, Ont., for all the help:
Canadian Olympic bobsledder Keaton Bruggeling on why he loves St. Catharines, Ont.
Keaton Bruggeling is a wide receiver for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the CFL. He is also making his Olympic debut as part of Canada’s four-man bobsleigh team at the 2026 Milano-Cortina Games.
From CFL to Olympic bobsled
Bruggeling already has another a career in sports, having played varsity football as wide receiver for the Carleton Ravens and, now, for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
Three years ago, Bruggeling was training at a gym in Ottawa for the CFL Combine, an event where top prospects are evaluated by CFL coaches, scouts and general managers. He was approached by Olympic-level bobsledders Jay Dearborn and Mike Evelyn O’Higgins, who would later become his teammates.
“Through the testing, and the running, and the jumping, they just told me I would be pretty good at this,” Bruggeling told CBC News.
Like a plot straight from the movie Cool Runnings — and like Bruggeling — other members of Canada’s bobsleigh team did not begin their athletic careers in the sport.
Dearborn was a former CFL defensive back and O’Higgins played ice hockey as Dalhousie Tigers’ hockey forward.
Olympic bobsledder Mike Evelyn O’Higgins, far right, approached Bruggeling to try out bobsleigh in 2023. Three years later, Bruggeling would join O’Higgins in Team Canada’s four-man bobsleigh. (Submitted by Keaton Bruggeling)
Finding the rides thrilling and his abilities as a wide receiver compatible with bobsledding, Bruggeling got hooked on the sport.
“There’s no feeling quite like it,” said Bruggeling. “I’ve been skydiving. There’s no feeling quite like just whipping down a hill at 150 [km/h].”
During the CFL off-season, Bruggeling would train at an ice house in Calgary, and sometimes Lake Placid, N.Y., often using push sleds to simulate a bobsled start.
Bobsledding can be scary and physically demanding, however, he said.
“It’s hard to get those reps in, especially in season,” he said. “You can only slide about two or three times a day because it’s that hard on your body.”
“There’s not a lot of safety features in the sled,” Bruggeling added. “You just kind of hold onto the frame and pray as much as you need to, but it’s really just about being the biggest and the fastest guy around.”
Four-man bobsledding airs Feb. 21-22
Team Canada’s four-man bobsleigh team will compete next weekend. Heats 1 and 2 of the four-man bobsleigh are scheduled for 3:50 a.m. ET on Saturday, Feb. 21.
Heats 3 and 4 are scheduled for 3:50 a.m. on Sunday, Feb. 22.