London, Ont. track ties to upcoming Olympic bobsleigh races

There will be strong rooting interest from southwestern Ontario when two-woman Olympic Bobsleigh event begins Friday .

"Our London Western Track and Field team is a central part of this story," says Angela Schneider, the founder of the International Centre for Olympic Studies at Western University in London, Ont.

Sara Villani and Kristen Bujnowski are both former Western Mustang athletes competing in the event.

Olympic Bobsledder Sara Villani works out in London, Ont. in the summer of 2021 (Source: Alex Kopacz)

"The fact that we have to Western athletes just back-to-back in the same sport and not just that they're at the Olympics I think is a really big deal," says Alex Kopacz, a 2018 Olympic Bobsleigh gold medalist , and Western University graduate.

Kopacz - who was once a Western track athlete too - is also part of this local story.

He's been coaching some of the Olympians, something he never imagined he'd be doing.

He kind of fell into it while spending time in Whistler B.C.

"I'm just waiting for the girlfriend the time to finish up work contract, so I started working at the bobsled track," says Kopacz.

"I was just so bored so I started just scraping ice and then i started to train a little bit."

Alex Kopacz (L) helps train Olympic Bobsledder Cyrus Gray in London, Ont in 2021. (Source ALex Kopacz)

That's when he met future Olympian Cyrus Gray.

"First of all, he's excited to meet me and then he asked if I would ever coach somebody?" says Kopacz

That meeting eventually led Kopacz, Gray and Villani all moving London, where they began to live together in an apartment and work out during the pandemic.

"We had this this little trio, trying to figure out ways to keep working out and keep sprinting," says Kopacz.

"There was quite a lot of creativity and I'm proud of how hard they worked."

Bujnowski from Mt Brydges, and Villani of Mississauga are the break women for Christine de Bruin and Melissa Lotholz. After training heats, both sleds are showing potential medal contending form.

"At the Olympics, I would bet that everyone's probably trying to test their game day equipment," says Kopacz.

"So the fact that they were coming in third in training, to me and to be a good sign."

When the races begin Friday morning, family and friends of Bujnowski will be exited to cheer her on in her hometown of Mt Brydges, Ont. just west of London.

However due to COVID guidelines, they'll only be able to have 40 people will gather at the local Legion for the races.

"Mt Brydges a small town outside of London, where we have one of these women coming from and I personally felt a very interesting connection there having had come from Rodney with a population of 1000 and going to the Olympics," says Schneider.

"I mean those stories really do move people because you realize if they can do it, I can do.

London really is Canada's golden city. Between Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir as well as Kopacz winning gold in 2018, and the five gold medalists in the summer of 2021, the Forest City is on a roll. Kopacz believes more hardware could be headed this way.

"Christine de Bruin is carrying momentum having already won a medal at these games, and Melissa and Sara are training really well, so I'd be shocked if we didn't have a Canadian on the podium," says Kopacz.