Right on track

Mount Royal University alumna Eden Wilson will be representing Canada on the global stage at the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Italy.

The 28-year-old was officially named as an alternate for the women’s bobsleigh team at an announcement in January at Calgary’s Olympic Heights School.

A 2019 graduate from Mount Royal’s Bachelor of Health and Physical Education — Sport and Recreation Management, Wilson says she always wanted to work in sports.

“I wanted to work in sport, I never wanted to be an athlete,” she says, remarking that it’s not that she didn’t have the drive, but she didn’t see anyone competing who looked like her. Her hesitation stemmed from a lack of visible representation. As a woman of Black and Métis descent, she rarely saw athletes who mirrored her own identity competing at the highest levels.

“A lot of my teammates had Olympic dreams when they were kids because they saw people that looked like them competing, specifically the 2010 Olympic Winter Games at home. But that wasn’t the case for me. I didn’t grow up wanting to be an Olympian with a dream to be in a sport simply because I didn’t see people who looked like me at the table.”

Instead, Wilson had goals of working on the high-performance apparel and fashion side of sports, which is why she initially went into the sport and recreation management program.

Ultimately, that program would lead to her doing her practicum under Dr. Hayley Wickenheiser, who, at the time, was doing her medical doctorate at the University of Calgary.

Wickenheiser was the first person Wilson thought of when it came time for her sport and recreation practicum as she had actually met her as a kid. She is around the same age as one of Wickenheiser’s children and they had been to the rink together a few times.

“When it was time to do a practicum in sport, she was the first person I called.”

Through Wickenheiser, Wilson met someone who had gone to the 2018 Winter Olympic Games and bobsleigh was brought up in that conversation.

“The rest really is history,” Wilson says.

With plenty of training leading up to her first Olympics, in 2020 Wilson earned her spot on the Canadian National Bobsleigh team and has since competed in multiple circuits including the North American Cup, Pan-American Cup, the Europe Cup and the World Cup.

Wilson and the team had been on the training road for 14 weeks leading up to the announcement. They finally came home after that long stretch and got the news.

“I never thought when I was doing my practicum in university and started bobsledding that this was going to be a thing for me. I was just doing it as a hobby.”

Dr. David Legg, PhD, an MRU health and physical education professor, was one of Wilson’s instructors. He remembers her being a curious and kind student, and couldn’t be more thrilled to see her representing Canada.

“She's a great example of what can happen when you put in the work, are persistent and do things the right way,” Legg says.

Embracing and celebrating culture

In addition to being named to the 2026 Canada Olympic team, Wilson is also part of the class of 2026 being inducted into the North American Indigenous Athletic Hall of Fame.

Wilson found out about the induction while training in rural Latvia.

“It was really special. It’s nice to be recognized and know that the effort and the work I am putting in is being seen by the people I hope it is impacting.”

For Wilson, her Métis culture is always something she has celebrated.

“I like to tell people no matter where you started from it’s important to take the opportunity to learn and grow as you get older and move forward. There was a lot of stigma behind it when I was a little kid, so I have been lucky to embrace myself in the culture and really learn about my background.”

Wilson is Canada’s first Indigenous Olympic bobsledder. She recognizes the power of representation and the role she is playing at the 2026 Games.

“I feel like I represent an entire community of people, not just myself. It feels a lot bigger when things don’t go my way, because it feels like I am letting down an entire community and generation of kids rather than just myself and my parents,” she says, adding it is a responsibility she carries proudly.

“I feel really lucky to represent the next generation of Indigenous kids.”

Today, she champions the next generation of athletes through her work with KidSport Canada, ensuring that Indigenous youth see themselves reflected in the world of high-performance athletics.

Of all of her community work, she points to school visits as some of the most vital.

“I have been lucky enough to go to Thompson, Manitoba, up north to Yellowknife and all over Canada at this point, and I think it is the most important thing to get to the grassroots level and talk to the kids and inspire them to do great things.”

'For the Cougs'

“Hopefully everything,” she joked when asked what she would be taking to Milano Cortina from her time at Mount Royal.

“MRU built a really great community of people. I know David Legg follows my story, I am in his newsletters quite often. I am really lucky a lot of my classmates and people I graduated with get to follow along too.”

Legg was touched to know the impact he’s had on Wilson, noting he takes his role of teacher and mentor very seriously. Legg knows Wilson’s MRU foundation will help her when she’s competing.

“We’re doing this one for the Cougars," Wilson says.