Orion Edwards has been an Airdronian for a little over a year now. Having settled into what he called the small/big town feel of the city, now he has his sights set on Italy.

The bobsledding athlete, who originally grew up in Newmarket Ontario is hoping that the 2026 Winter Olympics, which will take place in Milano Cortina, Italy, will be when he will make that history.

"I am a bobsled pilot and I'm on our relentless pursuit to represent Canada as the first black male bobsled pilot," Edwards announced. "I think representation does definitely matter. Sport is for everyone, it's a universal language. That's what is so beautiful about it. I've been to other countries and played pickup soccer or basketball and even though you might not speak the same language, you speak the same language of sport."

While bobsledding was not something he had contemplated in his earlier years, it is something Edwards fell in love with. Edwards said he dabbled in almost every sport there is, from baseball and basketball, to track and field, as well as football. Even though he admitted that he wasn't a natural at football, he began to excel at it in his teens and eventually, it gained him a scholarship to the University of Guelph.

Unfortunately, during his time playing university football, Edwards tore his Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) and whilst he was recuperating from his injury, his sister came to visit with him. The two were watching the 1993 film Cool Runnings when Edwards' sister remarked that both Edwards and Sanka Coffie (the pushcart champion in the film) had a similar hairstyle. 

"She looked back at me and said that my dreadlocks and his were the exact same and she said I should do bobsledding," Edwards recalled. "I thought that was such a weird deduction and she told me that football players have such a great translation into bobsled because of the speed, the power, and they're tough athletes."

Though he didn't immediately jump into the world of bobsledding, during his time in Seattle in 2017 when he was participating as a campus missionary for Athletes in Action, a not-for-profit Christian sports ministry dedicated to developing athletes, something came over him.

"I just felt that I wasn't finished being an athlete. I felt like this fire. I wanted to put my athletic potential into something."

In October 2019, Edwards made the national bobsled team, though initially, he was not a pilot. It wasn't until January 2021, when he attended mandatory training for bobsled driving, that it all came together.

"I knew this is where I want my future to go in, in the sport of Bobsledders: as a driver," he said.

However, while Edwards is poised to make history in 2026, he underlined that there are many bobsled trailblazers before him that have laid the groundwork for inclusivity in the sport. Edwards noted that Cynthia Appiah was in fact the first black pilot. Appiah is currently on the national team. 

"I think her journey inspired me as well; and then even some of the other pilots in the program like Chris Spring [Australian-Canadian bobsledder] and Justin Kripps and so many other people in the past," he said. "Their history has inspired me, not only just to represent as a black athlete, but to represent Canada and excellence."

Though 2026 might seem quite far away, Edwards has plenty of work to do before the Olympics. As Edwards has finished his fourth year on the Canadian team, and is two years into being the pilot, he is working his way through the development circuit. 

"You work your way up and the plan is to go to Europe next year and at the end of next year, hopefully, I'll get onto the World Cup circuit going from there. There's World Championships every year and like those points matter for going into the Olympics."

He said that for those who are looking to be trailblazers in their own right, hard work is the vehicle to achieve those dreams.

"Faith is the engine; hard work is the vehicle. You have got to have faith in your dreams. You have got to work extremely hard for those dreams," he said. "And be surrounded by a community, so they can support you and so you can support them."

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