Why a Canadian Olympic gold medallist is trying out a new sport
Back in 2021, Canadian track cyclist Kelsey Mitchell found herself on top of the Olympic world.
In her first appearance at the Olympic Games, Mitchell won a gold medal on the second-last day of Tokyo 2020, picking up the top prize in the women’s sprint event.
Less than four years after initially picking up the sport, Mitchell’s story was heralded as one of the Games’ most inspiring.
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But her second Olympic Games in Paris this past summer didn’t quite have the same success, as she finished no higher than eighth in her three events.
“The last two years were tough. Something was just off on the bike,” Mitchell said in an exclusive interview with Daily Hive.
“I couldn’t figure out my body and was struggling with my left leg and, like, pushing power. It was just kind of a grind to qualify for the Olympics and then to compete, knowing that it was not my best.”
Kelsey Mitchell after her Olympic gold-medal race in Tokyo (Andrew P. Scott/Imagn Images)
After pondering her next career move, the 31-year-old Canadian decided that the Los Angeles 2028 Games were far enough away that some time away from the bike might be best.
“After the gold medal in Tokyo, I wanted to keep going, and I was more motivated than ever, and then it was just kind of like a steady decline. It was just really taking a toll on me mentally and physically,” Mitchell said. “I think the best thing for me was to make the decision to take a break.”
Mitchell had been in a similar spot before, having previously worked on a water truck in Alberta following her university graduation. Eventually, she opted to try the RBC Training Ground program that puts Canadian Olympic hopefuls towards sports that suit them, which is where Mitchell began her cycling career after originally playing university soccer at the University of Alberta and NAIT.
“[Driving around in the truck] was the moment where I was like, this, isn’t it?
“This isn’t what I’m gonna do for the rest of my life. Like, I need to figure out what makes me happy and what I want to do,” she added. “It was mind-numbing.”
Once again faced with a crossroads about her future, Mitchell thought that maybe another change of sports was in order.
“With my type of personality, I like to hyper-fixate on things. So I knew I needed a new goal or new task, and I always wanted to try speed skating,” she said. “I went to Calgary and tried it out. And basically, I was like, ‘Hey, if I’m a natural, I’m gonna go all in and see what happens.'”
Known for requiring a strong lower body, speed skating and cycling have often been tried by many athletes, notably Canadian Olympian Clara Hughes who competed in both sports.
After pondering her options, Mitchell opted to move back to Alberta to be close to Calgary’s WinSport complex and speed skating facilities, which many other Canadian Olympic athletes call home.
That’s why they call her “Quadzilla.” (@kelsey.mitchell9/Instagram)
But despite earning the nickname “Quadzilla,” Mitchell admitted that the transition to speed skating wasn’t as smooth as the start of her cycling career.
“I came and I absolutely sucked,” she said. “I was not a natural at all.”
But she’s not giving up.
“The environment was just so great, and it was just so nice to move my body differently. The support here just seemed like what I needed. So I decided to make the move to Calgary for a couple months and see kind of what happens. It’s probably for the best for me not to just have the same routine for the past seven years. So switching it up has been good.”
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But Mitchell thinks that getting kicked to the curb a little bit could be beneficial in the long run for both her cycling and speed skating careers.
“I have every intention to come back and do [the] LA 2028 [Olympics as a cyclist] and be stronger than I’ve ever been. That’s kind of the plan, is to just take some time away, focus on something new, get my body sorted, and then hopefully come back to the bike in maybe two months, in half a year, in a year, I’m not too sure, but come back stronger than ever,” she added.
“I like to be a little delusional, and that’s exactly what happened with cycling. Nobody really thought I would make the Olympics in the short amount of time that I did, let alone win it.”
With the 2026 Winter Olympics now officially under a year away, Mitchell knows the clock is ticking if she’s going to be able to qualify for the Milano Cortina Games next February. She’s stated a goal of March for her first race after a few more weeks on the track learning the more technical aspects of speed skating, and then seeing how her progress continues from there.
“I know if I can figure out skating, I could definitely be strong in this sport. But I am not going to take away anything from people who have been doing this forever, because it is such a technical sport, and I am struggling a lot just to be on the skates and be on ice.
“I’m going all in, and it’s worked out for me in the past.”