In five years, Alex Kopacz went from being a 23-year old Western undergrad who had never seen a bobsleigh, to a Team Canada Olympian and gold-medal winner at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics.
Kopacz, BESc’13 (Mechanical Engineering), started as a varsity-level shot-putter while at Western and, with encouragement from his university coaches, was soon on his way to becoming one of Canada’s top bobsledders.
Last February, along with teammate Justin Kripps, Kopacz captured Olympic gold for Canada in the 2-Man Bobsleigh. The pair was tied with the Germany team for first place after all four runs were completed – both sleds, remarkably, finishing with a combined time of 3:16.86.
“I am grateful to the village of people that have supported me on my journey,” he said. “You can only be as strong as the group that supports you. I am proud to say there are many of those at Western.”
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