Kate O'Brien (cyclist)

For other people with the same name, see Kate O'Brien.

Kate O'Brien

Personal information
Born	(1988-07-23) 23 July 1988 Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Height	1.68 m (5 ft 6 in)
Weight	70 kg (150 lb)
Team information
Discipline	Track cycling
Medal record Representing Canada Track cycling Pan American Games 2015 Toronto Team sprint 2015 Toronto Sprint
Infobox last updated on 7 February 2015

Kate O'Brien (born 23 July 1988 in Calgary) is a Canadian female track cyclist and former bobsledder.

Career

After being introduced to bobsleigh in 2010, O’Brien had competed at the 2013 FIBT World Championships with pilot Jenny Ciochetti, but a torn hamstring took her out of the first half of the Olympic season and missed qualifying as a bobsleigh brakeman for the 2014 Winter Olympics. She decided to try piloting a bobsled and attended driving school in Calgary in March 2014. At the same time, there was a testing camp for Cycling Canada at the Canadian Sport Institute. After having scored good test results she was competing internationally within months. In September she debuted at the Pan American Championships, finishing fifth in both the team sprint (with Monique Sullivan) and the keirin. O’Brien split 2014-15 between track cycling and bobsleigh, competing on both World Cup circuits as well as at both world championships. At the 2015 UCI Track Cycling World Championships she and teammate Monique Sullivan finished 12th in the Women's Team Sprint. In June 2015, within a two week span she bettered the 200m time trial record at the Lehigh Valley Preferred Cycling Center in Trexlertown, PA. The previous 200m time trial record stood for 19 years. In July 2015 O'Brien and Sullivan set a track record and won the gold in the Women's Team Spring at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto. She also won a silver in the individual sprint competition at the same games, with the gold going to her teammate, Monique Sullivan.

Personal

Her parents are Nick O’Brien and Beth Smith O’Brien. She earned her Masters of Science (specialization: Joint Injury and Arthritis Research) from University of Calgary in 2015; defended her thesis in December 2014.

External links

• profile at sportuitslagen.org