19-year-old Lethbridge native and University of Lethbridge track athlete Noel Vanderzee is in Tampere, Finland for the World Junior Championships, arriving Thursday after 30 hours of travel.
In an interview with Global News on Tuesday, Vanderzee described his reaction to the news.
“It’s an amazing experience,” Vanderzee said. “I can’t believe it’s happening; it’s been my goal all season.”
Vanderzee will be competing as part of Team Canada in high jump.
“I can’t believe I jumped standard to make it there,” Vanderzee said. “It’s going to be great to watch the other athletes and learn everything I can.”
Of the 32 athletes to don the Maple Leaf at the world juniors, Vanderzee is the only Albertan this year, and he says it wasn’t easy getting there.
That coach was the one who scouted him 10 years ago.
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“He was running with the local track club, Lethbridge track and field and he was in middle school,” said Pronghorns assistant track and field coach, Jaime Thomas. “And I saw him do… some boundary drills, some jumping drills and it was at that time where I went over to him and said, ‘Hey would you like to try some jumping?'”
“We dabbled in some long jump, dabbled in some triple jump and some high jump,” Thomas said. “High jump was where we decided to put our main focus in, and it’s absolutely paid dividends for him.”
Vanderzee is a first year student at the U of L and says attending university and training with the Pronghorns has helped him get to where he is now.
“It’s huge.” Vanderzee said.
“I don’t know where I’d be without that. Having that indoor season, good growth, along with having a good school year, it’s great.”
His coach — his biggest fan and advocate — believes the sky’s the limit for the young star.
“This will be Noel’s second time on a national team,” Thomas said. “Last year he represented Canada at the Pan-Am Junior Championships in Peru. He set our school record the very first meet he competed in; he was so close to winning a national championship his very first year. He was a conference silver medalist. I mean, it’s a fantastic achievement for the program.”
Being on the world stage again, Vanderzee headed to Finland relaxed with a positive mindset.
“There’s so many good jumpers,” Vanderzee said. “I’m not going to put too much pressure on myself because I’m the underdog going in. But I’d love to make finals and maybe even a top five finish.”
Vanderzee will be in Finland for two weeks, getting eight days of training time before the world juniors kick off.
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