Already a skeleton world champion, Hallie Clarke's 'crazy journey' could lead to bigger things

Myles Dichter · for CBC Sports

· Posted: Mar 04, 2025 1:30 PM EST | Last Updated: March 4

The youngest skeleton satellite champion ever has already been done a lot.

Canada's Hallie Clarke, 20, has lone been sliding for 7 years. But successful that time, she's represented Canada, switched allegiances to the U.S., returned backmost to the Maple Leaf alongside her longtime manager and won golden medals astatine some the inferior and elder worlds.

Now, days up of her elder rubric defence successful Lake Placid, N.Y., and little than a twelvemonth distant from her imaginable Olympic debut successful Milan, Clarke struggles to contextualize her path.

"It's been a spot of a brainsick travel truthful far," Clarke said. "And I deliberation if I qualified for the Olympics, I don't know, it's a arrogant infinitesimal for maine of similar looking astatine what I accomplished, what I persevered through, each these antithetic things to benignant of travel to that moment."

Clarke's follow-up play to her astonishment golden medal has been solid, if unspectacular. She's earned 3 top-10 finishes successful 5 World Cup events, and she's neither reached the podium nor placed extracurricular the apical 20.

But the consistency is by plan arsenic she and manager Joe Cecchini tinker to find the close premix and destruct variables for the upcoming Olympic season.

"Expectations don't change," Cecchini said. "We're inactive processing and moving towards Milan and adjacent this satellite championships. We're adjusting our equipment, we're adjusting our attack truthful that we enactment amended arsenic a unit."

WATCH | Clarke becomes youngest pistillate satellite champion:

Goal for Milan

The extremity for Milan is to nonstop a two-woman squad of Clarke and seasoned Jane Channell. Longtime slider Mirela Rahneva retired past off-season, portion a cadre of young athletes — possibly inspired by Clarke's accelerated emergence — are eyeing 2030.

"The squad is truly transformed. And past we're transitioning to effort to presumption ourselves to being a world-leading organization, not truthful overmuch for Milan, but for 2030 and moving forward," Cecchini said.

For now, the satellite championships should supply a bully investigating ground. Competition begins Thursday astatine 9 a.m. ET with unrecorded sum passim the lawsuit disposable on CBCSports.ca and CBC Gem.

Though Clarke inactive indispensable qualify, the 2026 Games should people her Olympic debut.

Clarke, who was calved successful Belleville, Ont., but grew up successful assorted American cities with her family, was an alternate connected the Canadian squad for the 2022 Olympics yet ne'er truthful overmuch arsenic made the travel to Beijing.

She past spent a twelvemonth with the American squad aft members of Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton came guardant with accusations of a toxic situation created by "authoritarian" leadership."

But erstwhile the Canadian enactment tabbed Cecchini — who, by chance, happened to ticker her first-ever skeleton effort astatine Calagry's WinSport Arena — arsenic its caput coach, she jumped close backmost in.

Two years later, she said the civilization displacement is real.

"It's changed a batch and for the better. Everyone's moving truly good together. And I deliberation that it's progressed everyone truthful overmuch further than erstwhile everyone was truthful individually focused," Clarke said.

Team-first environment

Cecchini said helium attempted to laic the instauration for a team-first situation and credited the athletes for buying successful to his principles.

"We've had athletes basal up to each different and say, 'This is who we are erstwhile we're astatine our champion and let's marque definite that we are doing those things.' So we were seeing a batch of growth. We had a batch of increasing pains astatine the opening arsenic we tried to make a structure, but present it's truly affirmative to see," helium said.

For Milan, the expected squad of Clarke and Channell should brace an Olympic rookie with a tested veteran.

Cecchini said the duo "has a batch of strength" and should assistance Clarke summation invaluable cognition to dispense guardant erstwhile the adjacent procreation is acceptable to vie successful 2023.

"You person this experienced athlete, passionate jock successful Jane, who's a truly bully person wrong our team. And past we person a caller jock [Clarke] experiencing that worldly for the archetypal time. And truthful having that adjacent radical volition enactment good for some of them," Cecchini said.

For now, the duo volition embark upon the satellite championships.

Perhaps astir absorbing is the determination — Lake Placid was named the Olympic backup program for adjacent twelvemonth if organizers are incapable to implicit their $90-million US renovation of a century-old way successful Cortina.

For Clarke, who is inactive seeing caller courses connected the World Cup circuit, the Italy enactment mightiness contiguous an vantage implicit immoderate of her seasoned competitors who mostly trust connected organization way knowledge.

On the different hand, the Lake Placid enactment could pb to an contiguous shortage versus U.S. racers who person plentifulness of familiarity with the Mt. Hoevenberg track, adjacent if Clarke has much runs determination than immoderate of her European competitors.

"I've been to plentifulness of tracks for the archetypal clip successful a contention situation successful the past fewer years. So I deliberation conscionable keeping that unfastened mindset and truly conscionable trying to larn and turn from each grooming session, I'll bring that into it," Clarke said.

Given her improbable way to becoming a satellite champion, Clarke is surely well-equipped to grip the uncertainty.

And adjacent though she said she doesn't consciousness a people connected her backmost from different competitors, it goes without saying the young Canadian tin nary longer beryllium ruled retired arsenic a gold-medal menace — either astatine worlds oregon the Olympics, arsenic she demonstrated 1 twelvemonth ago.

"I ever accidental to Hallie, anytime she steps connected the ice, she has the imaginable to triumph again," Cecchini said. "But our absorption isn't there. It's astir moving connected each facet and continuing to amended arsenic we get person and person to Milan."