Olympian Sarah Mitton cheers on young athletes at national talent search - Action News
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Nova Scotia

Olympian Sarah Mitton cheers on young athletes at national talent search

More than 200 aspiring athletes registered for the Canadian Olympic Committees open talent search at the Canada Games Centre in Halifax on Saturday. The event, called RBCs Training Ground, is one of many across the country.

More than 200 young Nova Scotians registered for talent search stop in Halifax

Sarah posing at an event in Halifax
Olympic shot putter Sarah Mitton cheered on aspiring athletes at the Canadian Olympic Committees open talent search in Halifax on Saturday. (Jeorge Sadi/CBC)

Young Nova Scotians with hopes of competing on the world stage received some extra encouragement from Olympic shot putter Sarah Mitton.

More than 200 aspiring athletes registered for the Canadian Olympic Committee's open talent search at the Canada Games Centre in Halifax on Saturday. The event, called RBC's Training Ground, is one of many across the country.

Participants completed five challenges showcasing skills such as strength, endurance, power and speed to see if their talents translate to Olympic sports.

"The athletes have a chance to be in front of a ton of coaches from the Atlantic provinces," said Nova Scotia's Mitton, who is fresh off a gold medal at the world indoor championships in Glasgow, Scotland.

"It really just gives them a platform to get noticed so they can kind of start their own journey. It's just really cool to be a part of that," she said.

Between cheering and snapping pictures, Mitton, 27, said she wanted to tell the athletes to just do their best. She wanted them not to get discouraged if they fell short the first time, she said.

A young woman runs past another participant in a sprinting test.
More than 200 young athletes from Nova Scotia participated in challenges that focused on strength, endurance and speed. (Jeorge Sadi/CBC)

Four guys run in the same direction.
Participants run during the final challenge, the beep test, at the Canada Games Centre in Halifax. (Jeorge Sadi/CBC)

"It's incredible to have somebody like Sarah Mitton in here cheering them on," said Evan MacInnis, national technical director with RBC Training.

"I couldn't imagine if I was a kid who had any athletic aspirations and I'm going to meet someone who is a world champion at an event like this in Halifax," he said.

Athletes who are identified as highly skilledare chosen to compete in a national event against others from across the country later this year.

The program is in its ninth year and has found and funded 13 Olympians and seven Canadian Olympic medallists, according to its website.

A young man tries to pull up a handle attached to a chain as part of the strength challenge.
Organizers of the event said the challenges showcase skills that can easily translate to Olympic sports. (Jeorge Sadi/CBC)

But, if you don't make it to the Olympics, Mitton said, there are still several positives to training as an athlete.

"Sports really have a big effect on your confidence," she said. "They make you a really great leader."

Mitton will represent Canada at the Olympics this summer in Paris. She competed in her first Olympics in Tokyo in 2021.