Prince Harry Races Face-First Down Bobsled Track as Meghan Markle Cheers Him On in Canada

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry continue their sporting week at the Invictus Games Winter Training Camp in Canada.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex stepped out for the second day of the Vancouver Whistler 2025 One Year to Go Invictus Games celebrations on Thursday.

Prince Harry braved the skeleton slide at the Whistler Sliding Centre, lying head first on his belly on the skeleton bob to fly down the icy track. Meghan, who excitedly filmed Harry’s run on her phone, and dozens of spectators cheered him on by ringing yellow cowbells.

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry at the Invictus Games winter training camp on February 15, 2024.

Karwai Tang/WireImage

The Duke of Sussex later fell in the second run. When the photographer suggested Meghan take a detour, she quipped: “No way!”

Prince Harry, 39, and Meghan, 42, are spending a week at the Invictus Games Winter Training Camp organized a year ahead of the event, which will be held in Vancouver and Whistler in 2025. The camp brings together team managers, coaches and competitors to experience a winter of adaptive sports before next year’s official competition.

Prince Harry trains skeleton at the Invictus Games Winter Training Camp on February 15, 2024.

Andrew Chin/Getty

Invictus Games 2025 will be the first winter edition of the competition with the introduction of new sports. Next February, athletes can go for gold for the first time in alpine skiing, snowboarding, biathlon, Nordic skiing, skeleton and wheelchair curling, alongside core Invictus sports such as indoor rowing, sitting volleyball, swimming, wheelchair basketball, rugby in wheelchairs and more.

“As Invictus continues to adapt and evolve, I am extremely excited to announce that the Invictus Games Foundation has selected Canada to host the first Winter Hybrid Games in 2025,” Prince Harry said in a statement announcing the news.

All the best photos from Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s trip to Canada for the Invictus Games Countdown

On Wednesday, the couple hit the ski slopes to meet athletes using adaptive skis and their guides. Harry went skiing, and Meghan made sure to capture the moment by borrowing her phone to snap a photo (reportedly saying she wanted to “show the kids,” referring to their 4-year-old son, Prince Archie, and 2-year-old daughter, Princess Lilibet).

Stefan Nommensen is the Netherlands’ “chief of mission,” a role that includes “overlooking the team, friends and family,” he told PEOPLE, after competing at the 2018 Invictus Games in Sydney.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attended the Invictus Games Winter Training Camp on February 15, 2024.

Karwai Tang/WireImage

Speaking about learning winter sports in Canada, Nommensen says, “It’s amazing how adaptive sports coaches can teach and coach. Imagine – in the Netherlands, we’re below sea level and we don’t have mountains. A lot of us, especially those with disabilities, haven’t been exposed to winter sports. It will actually be a good added value to the Invictus Games.”

Nommensen says Prince Harry is “so natural” with the contestants.

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry at the Invictus Games winter training camp on February 15, 2024.

Andrew Chin/Getty

“He’s really an ambassador for the Invictus Games,” he says. “The way he speaks, the way he carries himself, the way he’s involved with the contestants — it’s great and very important to our contestants and staff, but also their friends and family.”

Rasmus Penno, a bilateral leg amputee from Estonia who previously competed in indoor rowing at the Sydney Games, says the best word to describe his experience at the winter training camp is simply “fun”.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attended the Invictus Games Winter Training Camp on February 15, 2024.

Andrew Chin/Getty

In Sydney, Penno met briefly with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. “They were really kind,” he says. “They support every competitor and [it] it gives us so much to see them here. We feel it. It’s hard to put into words. That’s all that matters to us.”

Peacemaker Azuegbulam plans to compete in his second Invictus Games for Nigeria after winning the first gold medal for the African team at the 2023 competition in Düsseldorf, Germany. Of course, he had someone special cheering him on: Meghan, who recently found out she’s 43% Nigerian thanks to a genealogy test.

“I feel good. I feel loved that she really cares about Team Nigeria,” he told PEOPLE of Meghan’s support. “We are happy for the love they have shown and appreciate the efforts to bring the Invictus Games to Nigeria.”

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attended the Invictus Games Winter Training Camp on February 15, 2024.

Andrew Chin/Getty

Ivan Morera, who represented Team USA in Germany last year and will compete again in Canada, tells PEOPLE that he is learning to ski and snowboard.

“I like to challenge myself just to build resilience and show that I’m still capable of being physically active even with my adaptation. I had a great time here,” he says.

Morera, who had one arm amputated after an incident while serving in Afghanistan, said: “I’m looking forward to meeting Prince Harry, just shaking his hand and saying, ‘Hey, thank you for your service and thank you for this opportunity.'”

“I have a lot of respect for Prince Harry,” he says. “I believe he understands military personnel very well because of his experience in Afghanistan and his willingness to put his life on the line for his country. He showed us that by creating the Invictus Games, taking inspiration from the Warrior Games to the United States and creating an international competition.”

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attended the Invictus Games Winter Training Camp on February 15, 2024.

Andrew Chin/Getty

Earlier on Thursday, Meghan and Prince Harry visited the Mount Currie Community Center in the traditional territory of the Lil’wat Nation to learn about their wheelchair basketball program. Principal Dean Nelson invited the couple after meeting the Duke of Sussex in November, according to a post on the couple’s new website.

“Upon arrival, the Duke and Duchess received a traditional welcome and were presented with symbolic gifts for their family, including a traditional basket that takes more than a year to make and a hand-carved cedar artwork that symbolizes strength,” the post revealed. “The couple was humbled to be invited and expressed their deepest gratitude to Chief Nelson, Chief Gélpcal and the people of the Lil’wat Nation for their generous hospitality and kindness.”

Prince Harry attends the Invictus Games winter training camp on February 15, 2024.

Andrew Chin/Getty

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After cycles in London (2014), Orlando (2016), Toronto (2017) and Sydney (2018), The Hague (when COVID-19 pushed the event back to 2022) and Düsseldorf (2023), the upcoming cycle in Canada will be the first time the sports tournament has returned to the previous host country.

Canada is a special place for Prince Harry and Meghan on a personal level, and the Invictus Games marked an important moment in the beginning of their relationship. The two famously made their debut as a couple at the 2017 Invictus Games in Toronto, where Meghan lived while filming Suits.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attended the Invictus Games Winter Training Camp on February 15, 2024.

Karwai Tang/WireImage

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Source: HIS Education