# Jesse Lumsden
**Jesse Lumsden** (born 1982 in Edmonton, Alberta) is a Canadian bobsledder and former [Canadian Football League](https://www.edgepedia.org/canadian-football-league) running back who competed in three Olympic Winter Games, at Vancouver 2010, [Sochi](https://www.edgepedia.org/sochi) 2014, and PyeongChang 2018, and won two-man silver at the 2012 and 2017 World Championships.[1](https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/118664) • [2](https://olympic.ca/team-canada/jesse-lumsden/) He is one of the most prominent examples of the pipeline that carries Canadian professional football players into bobsleigh, a path he opened for athletes such as Sam Giguere, Jean-Nicolas Carriere, and Ben Coakwell.[3](https://olympic.ca/2013/08/07/how-the-cfl-is-redefining-bobsleigh-in-canada/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1982, Edmonton, Alberta; 186 cm, 105 kg; nicknames Lummer, Jet, Tron[1](https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/118664) |
| Football career | Hec Crighton Trophy winner (2004) at McMaster University; four years with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats; signed with the Edmonton Eskimos in 2009[2](https://olympic.ca/team-canada/jesse-lumsden/) |
| Olympic results | Vancouver 2010: 5th in two-man and four-man; Sochi 2014: 7th in two-man; PyeongChang 2018: 6th in four-man, 7th in two-man[2](https://olympic.ca/team-canada/jesse-lumsden/) |
| World medals | Two-man silver at the 2012 World Championships (with Lyndon Rush) and the 2017 World Championships (with Justin Kripps)[2](https://olympic.ca/team-canada/jesse-lumsden/) |
| World Cup title | Overall two-man FIBT World Cup title for the 2012-13 season with Lyndon Rush and Lascelles Brown[2](https://olympic.ca/team-canada/jesse-lumsden/) • [4](https://www.bobsleighcanadaskeleton.ca/files/2013%20BCS%20AGM%20Minutes_July2013.pdf) |
| Family | Son of Neil Lumsden, a Canadian Football Hall of Famer who won three Grey Cups with the Edmonton Eskimos[5](https://olympic.ca/2013/10/16/an-inside-look-at-canadas-men-of-bobsleigh/) |
## Football career
Lumsden had a standout college career at [McMaster University](https://www.edgepedia.org/mcmaster-university), where he won the Hec Crighton Trophy as the most outstanding player in Canadian Interuniversity Sport in 2004 and was invited to the East-West Shrine Game.[2](https://olympic.ca/team-canada/jesse-lumsden/) • [6](https://www.bobsleighcanadaskeleton.ca/en/team/bobsleigh/?id=14) He then played four years for the CFL's Hamilton Tiger-Cats and was a six-time CFL Player of the Week.[2](https://olympic.ca/team-canada/jesse-lumsden/)
Injuries shaped the rest of his football career. He joined the Edmonton Eskimos in 2009, yet a shoulder dislocation sustained during the opening quarter of his debut game led to surgery that ended his season.[2](https://olympic.ca/team-canada/jesse-lumsden/) After Vancouver 2010 he signed with the [Calgary Stampeders](https://www.edgepedia.org/calgary-stampeders), a move that let him keep pursuing bobsleigh, and played three games before a torn left ACL ended his season.[2](https://olympic.ca/team-canada/jesse-lumsden/) In May 2011 he retired from football to focus full-time on bobsleigh.[2](https://olympic.ca/team-canada/jesse-lumsden/)
## Transition to bobsleigh
In the spring of 2009, at age 27, Lumsden was recruited to push-test for the Canadian bobsleigh program. He has said the chance to wear the maple leaf in international competition drew him, and that pushing a roughly 400-pound sled would double as cross-training for football, simulating the short-yardage work of a running back.[2](https://olympic.ca/team-canada/jesse-lumsden/) While rehabbing the shoulder he was cleared for bobsleigh but not football, and he made his international debut in November 2009 by winning a Europa Cup event with pilot [Pierre Lueders](https://www.edgepedia.org/pierre-lueders); his World Cup debut followed shortly after.[2](https://olympic.ca/team-canada/jesse-lumsden/) Less than a year after first pushing a sled, he was named to the 2010 Olympic team.[3](https://olympic.ca/2013/08/07/how-the-cfl-is-redefining-bobsleigh-in-canada/)
[Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton](https://www.edgepedia.org/bobsleigh-canada-skeleton)'s high performance director Nathan Cicoria described Lumsden's arrival as a breakthrough into the professional leagues, showing current and former CFL players a way to prolong or transition a career when football's physical toll catches up; in Lumsden's case, his shoulders could no longer take football, but his speed and power still had years of use.[3](https://olympic.ca/2013/08/07/how-the-cfl-is-redefining-bobsleigh-in-canada/)
## Olympic and World Championship record
**Vancouver 2010.** As brakeman for two-time Olympic medallist Pierre Lueders, Lumsden finished fifth in both the two-man and four-man events.[2](https://olympic.ca/team-canada/jesse-lumsden/) The publicity from competing at a home Games was, in Bobsleigh Canada's own assessment, hugely beneficial to the federation.[3](https://olympic.ca/2013/08/07/how-the-cfl-is-redefining-bobsleigh-in-canada/)
**2012 to 2013.** After retiring from football, Lumsden moved into the sled piloted by Olympic bronze medallist Lyndon Rush. The pair won two-man silver at the 2012 World Championships and captured the overall two-man World Cup title for the 2012-13 season, a result the federation's annual meeting minutes record as the two-man FIBT title for Rush, Lumsden, and [Lascelles Brown](https://www.edgepedia.org/lascelles-brown).[2](https://olympic.ca/team-canada/jesse-lumsden/) • [4](https://www.bobsleighcanadaskeleton.ca/files/2013%20BCS%20AGM%20Minutes_July2013.pdf)
**Sochi 2014.** Lumsden finished seventh in the two-man event with pilot Chris Spring. A shift in crews put him in the Canada-3 four-man sled with [Justin Kripps](https://www.edgepedia.org/justin-kripps), who had been the best Canadian driver on the Sochi track. Eighth after the first heat, the sled overturned on turn 12 in the second heat; Lumsden was cleared medically to continue, but the sled could not move out of last place. Team Canada lists the final placing as 29th, while Olympedia records it as 27th.[2](https://olympic.ca/team-canada/jesse-lumsden/) • [1](https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/118664)
**Return and 2017.** After Sochi, Lumsden took an extended break to rest his body and returned to the World Cup circuit in the fall of 2016. He pushed Justin Kripps to two-man silver at Lake Placid in December 2016, then to two-man silver at the 2017 World Championships in Königssee, Germany, Canada's first men's world bobsleigh medal since 2012.[2](https://olympic.ca/team-canada/jesse-lumsden/)
**PyeongChang 2018.** Competing at his third Games in PyeongChang 2018, Lumsden placed sixth alongside Kripps in the four-man competition and took seventh with Nick Poloniato in the two-man competition.[2](https://olympic.ca/team-canada/jesse-lumsden/) • [1](https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/118664)
## Role in recruiting football players
Lumsden became a key figure in Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton's recruitment of professional football players. Under the federation's in-reach program, athletes act as role models and mentors, and Cicoria noted that former football players carry far more weight with prospective recruits than coaches or administrators do.[3](https://olympic.ca/2013/08/07/how-the-cfl-is-redefining-bobsleigh-in-canada/) The 2012-13 World Cup squad included three football-player rookies, Sam Giguere, Jean-Nicolas Carriere, and Ben Coakwell, all following Lumsden's path; Giguere and Coakwell each said that seeing Lumsden make the move convinced them it was possible for them too.[3](https://olympic.ca/2013/08/07/how-the-cfl-is-redefining-bobsleigh-in-canada/) His example reached beyond football: the former rugby player and later Olympian Cam Stones recalled seeing Lumsden training at his school during a bobsleigh recruitment drive.[7](https://www.thebrakeman.org/post/camstones)
## Background and personal life
Lumsden grew up in [Burlington, Ontario](https://www.edgepedia.org/burlington-ontario), and received a [Bachelor of Arts](https://www.edgepedia.org/bachelor-of-arts) in geography from McMaster University. He has worked as a business development lead for a private equity group, has done television commentary for Canadian university football, and enjoys fly fishing, hunting, archery, and camping; he counts the two-sport athlete [Bo Jackson](https://www.edgepedia.org/bo-jackson) among his role models.[2](https://olympic.ca/team-canada/jesse-lumsden/) A 1988 trip with his father to the Calgary Olympic Games, where he sat on his father's shoulders watching the bobsleigh events, was an early influence.[5](https://olympic.ca/2013/10/16/an-inside-look-at-canadas-men-of-bobsleigh/)
## References
1. [Olympedia – Jesse Lumsden](https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/118664)
2. [Jesse Lumsden – Team Canada](https://olympic.ca/team-canada/jesse-lumsden/)
3. [How the CFL is redefining bobsleigh in this country – Team Canada](https://olympic.ca/2013/08/07/how-the-cfl-is-redefining-bobsleigh-in-canada/)
4. [2013 BCS AGM Minutes, Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton](https://www.bobsleighcanadaskeleton.ca/files/2013%20BCS%20AGM%20Minutes_July2013.pdf)
5. [An inside look at Canada's men of bobsleigh – Team Canada](https://olympic.ca/2013/10/16/an-inside-look-at-canadas-men-of-bobsleigh/)
6. [Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton – team profile](https://www.bobsleighcanadaskeleton.ca/en/team/bobsleigh/?id=14)
7. [Cam Stones interview, The Brakeman](https://www.thebrakeman.org/post/camstones)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Sports, games, and recreation › Individual sports and outdoor recreation › Winter and ice sports › Sliding sports › Bobsleigh › Bobsledders › Canadian bobsledders*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 21, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Last review: Oct 21, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license