A Chilliwack athlete is a finalist for RBC Training Ground, a cross-country talent search by the Canadian Olympic Committee.
Taylor Duffy is one of 1,500 athletes who’ve attended local qualifier events. The University of Manitoba student traveled to Edmonton in April to perform core speed, strength, power and endurance testing in front of Olympic talent scouts.
While Duffy has no prior experience in elite high performance sport, scouts from Cycling Canada liked what they saw.
“Taylor is a hard working, very positive athlete, and his results in testing were intriguing,” said Tanya Dubnicoff, Advancement Camp Coach at Cycling Canada. “During a testing session, he apologized as he wanted to reach a higher power. He said ‘I’m sorry, but I just couldn’t go any further. My legs were too sore’. Pushing it to the limit might seem like a small thing, but it’s something we notice.”
Based on that assessment, Duffy is one of 100 athletes deemed to have ‘Olympic potential.’
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Duffy now moves on to the RBC Training Ground national final, taking place in Ottawa on Oct. 22.
Thirty athletes from the final will earn funding, a spot on Team Canada with one of nine partner national sport organizations (NSOs), and an accelerated path to the Olympics. During the final, Duffy will be tested against cycling-specific, high-performance benchmarks. His measurements (height, wingspan, etc), sport-specific testing and competitive sport history will factor into whether or not he’s selected for funding.
“I’ve been road cycling for the last two years, but nothing serious, so this is exciting,” Duffy said in an RBC Training Ground news release. “Mostly in the past I’ve done long distance running, but I haven’t been able to enter competitions, since I was living in quite a remote portion of Manitoba (Stoney Plains). But I am looking forward to entering cycling and running events throughout the coming spring, summer and fall seasons.”
Transportation to Ottawa along with hotel and food are provided by RBC for Duffy and other athletes.
While in Ottawa, Duffy will meet Kelsey Mitchell, who won gold for Canada in cycling at the Tokyo Olympics. Mitchell is one of 13 RBC Training Ground athletes who’ve gone on to compete at the highest level over the program’s first six years, combining for seven medal wins.
Since its inception in 2016, the program has tested 12,000 athletes at free local events across Canada with more than 1,600 identified as having Olympic potential.
Visit RBCTrainingGround.ca for details.
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