Canadian skeleton racer Mirela Rahneva was part of her country’s Olympic team at the 2018 Winter Games and is a World Championships medal winner.
Rahneva was born into a sporty family, with her dad being a competitive gymnast and her mum an elite sprinter. It was inevitable that she would end up as a sportsperson too, and she grew up playing rugby in high school before taking up skeleton in 2012. After competing for four years, and winning gold medals at the North American Cup she was selected as part of the Canadian national team in 2016. Her track record continued to thrive, with more medals at competitions around the world including two golds at the 2016 Europe Cup and another victory at the North American Cup in the same year.
Rahneva’s first World Cup season came in 2017, where she took a gold medal at the event in St Moritz, quickly followed by a silver in Innsbruck. In 2018 she qualified to compete as part of the Canadian skeleton team at the 2018 Winter Olympics held in South Korea and the following year took home her first World Championships medal with a silver in the mixed team event.
This highly experienced and technically brilliant skeleton racer remains at the top of her game, with recent podium finishes at the 2020 World Cup in Winterberg and more World Championships appearances.