Three local athletes have been identified through the 2023 RBC Training Ground national final.
23-year-old Ella Kubas of Milton, 19-year-old Carson Corey of Oakville, and 17-year-old Cole Dempster of Rockwood (who attends Acton District High School) were among the more than 2,200 to participate in the most-recent annual cross-country talent search, run in partnership with the Canadian Olympic Committee and the Canadian Sport Institute Network.
The RBC Training Ground program sees athletes from a wide range of sports perform core speed, strength, power and endurance tests in front of Olympic talent scouts from nine different sports to find the sport for which they are most suited.
100 athletes were invited to the national final on Saturday, December 2nd in Toronto. From this pool, 30, including the three Halton athletes, were selected for funding and a commitment from a partner National Sport Organization (NSO) to fast-track their Olympic dream.
Here are the profiles offered by RBC following the announcement:
- Ella Kubas, who attended Milton District High School, was an NCAA All American in triathlon at the University of South Dakota. Yet it is her raw potential in rowing, a sport she tried for the first time last year, that caught the eye of the program’s talent scouts. She is now pursuing a Master’s degree at Michigan State, and began rowing with the school’s team this year. She has already earned a spot in MSU’s top 8 boat and been named team captain.
“Ella hasn’t been rowing for long, but her raw talent, which this program helps us identify, shows she has the tools to compete at the highest levels of our sport,” says Laurence Cote, Next Gen Recruitment Coordinator at Rowing Canada. “Her ERG (ergometer) results which show endurance were really strong at the national final and she’s a real competitor.”
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Carson Corey of Oakville is a prospect in men’s sprint Kayak.
“[Corey] placed 8th in K1 1000m at the Junior World Championships in July 2023, and continues to show progression on the National and International stage,” says Emily MacKeigan, Senior Manager, High Performance Operations, Canoe Kayak Canada. “We were really pleased that he also showed the raw physical abilities to earn the RBC Training Ground funding, because it will make a big impact on his development.”
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Cole Dempster of Rockwood is a grade 12 student at Acton District High School. Despite being a first year Junior with Canada’s national track cycling program his performance in the final has Cycling Canada coaches excited about his potential.
“Cole has had a tremendous year on the bike, considering he is a only a 17-year-old first-year junior,” says Cycling Canada coach Tanya Dubnicoff, who started working with Dempster after he was identified at an RBC Training Ground event in 2022. “At the 2023 Junior Track Cycling World Championships, he won a bronze medal in the men’s sprint, with an amazing 200m time of 9.95 seconds. He’s done so well so quickly that he’s even been granted permission to compete at the Elite National Track Cycling Championship as a second year junior in 2024.
“At the RBC Training Ground National Final Cole’s physical profile of 1867W (Wattbike Sprint) in the power test confirmed that his trajectory is on par (if not ahead) of those who came through our pathway currently on our men’s National team. He is an exciting prospect for LA 2028, but still new to the sport and not yet a carded athlete so this funding from RBC will be very helpful.”
Funding is administered by the participating National Sport Organization bringing the athlete into its system, and is used for things like coaching, transportation, travel, equipment, and nutrition. NSO partners include Boxing Canada; Canoe Kayak Canada; Climbing Escalade Canada; Cycling Canada Cyclisme; Freestyle Canada, Luge Canada; Rowing Canada Aviron, Rugby Canada; Speed Skating Canada; Triathlon Canada; Volleyball Canada, Boxing Canada; Climbing Canada; Triathlon Canada; and Wrestling Canada.
Now in its 8th year, RBC Training Ground is a nation-wide talent identification and athlete-funding program dedicated to finding and supporting the next generation of Canadian Olympians. Since its inception in 2016, the program has tested 14,000 athletes at free local events across Canada with more than 2,000 being identified by NSO partners as having elite potential.
The recognition is significant, as thirteen RBC Training Ground athletes have already competed at two Olympic Games, and together they’ve brought home a collective seven medals. Program alumni Kelsey Mitchell and Marion Thénault are among the medal winners, both of whom had never tried their Olympic sport before showing up at an RBC Training Ground event, only a few years before their Olympic debut.
A new season of RBC Training Ground begins in February.
Learn more about the program here.
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