Six luge athletes set to slide for Team Canada at Milano Cortina 2026
A talented young team of luge athletes all under the age of 25 are set to slide for Team Canada at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games.
Kailey Allan and Beattie Podulsky will be part of Olympic history when they compete in the first ever women’s doubles luge event at the Olympic Games. Trinity Ellis and Embyr-Lee Susko will compete in women’s singles. Devin Wardrope and Cole Zajanski will be the Canadian team in the men’s doubles event.
Ellis is the lone returning Olympian on the team. She was the top Canadian in the women’s singles event at Beijing 2022. Of Métis heritage, she was introduced to luge at the Whistler Sliding Centre. It was there that she was the bronze medallist in the U23 division at the 2025 FIL World Championships.
“It’s incredibly special to be heading to my second Olympics, it still seems a bit surreal,” said Ellis. “It’s such an honour to represent Canada at the Games, and I’m really excited to share this experience with the team we have going. It takes a village, and I’m grateful for everyone who has helped me get there.”
Finishing one spot ahead of her to claim the U23 silver medal was Susko, who has enjoyed an explosive start to her international career. Still just 20 years old, she finished fourth in women’s singles at the 2025 FIL World Championships on the familiar Whistler track. A day later, she was part of Canada’s bronze medal in the team relay. The year before, she won silver at the 2024 FIL Junior World Championships.
Allan and Podulsky have had a great start to their 2025-26 season, finishing fifth at the opening stop of the FIL World Cup in Winterberg, Germany. They followed up with a sixth-place finish in Park City, Utah and were in the top-10 again when the circuit returned to Winterberg in early January. This is just their second season as a tandem. They placed eighth in their world championship debut as a team in 2025 and were also part of Canada’s bronze medal in the team relay.
Wardrobe and Zajanski began racing together during the 2019-20 season when they debuted on the FIL World Cup circuit. They came just short of qualifying for Beijing 2022. They were fourth at the FIL U23 World Championships in both 2023 and 2024. They posted their top World Cup result in December 2022 when they finished fourth in Whistler. They were also members of Canada’s team relay that won bronze at the 2025 World Championships.
“It is amazing to be named to Team Canada. This season has been filled with uncertainty, after dislocating my elbow twice I was all but sure that my Olympic dreams were over,” said Wardrope. “But the team gave me hope that there was still a way to come back from it. We put together a rehab plan that would get my shoulder stronger and were able to get back on the sled in early January and meet the qualifying criteria. I’m just super grateful for my coaches, family and friends for helping me get to this point. I’m just setting my eyes forward to put down the best performance I can get at the Games.”
Luge will take place February 7-12 (Days 1-6), at the Cortina Sliding Centre.
Team Canada Luge Athletes at Milano Cortina 2026:
Trinity Ellis (Pemberton, B.C.) – Women’s Singles
Embyr-Lee Susko (Whistler, B.C.) – Women’s Singles
Kailey Allan (Calgary, Alta.) – Women’s Doubles
Beattie Podulsky (Calgary, Alta.) – Women’s Doubles
Devin Wardrope (Calgary, Alta.) – Men’s Doubles
Cole Zajanski (Calgary, Alta.) – Men’s Doubles