Whistler Nordic Development Centre to support 18 high performance biathletes in 2021/22
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Whistler, BC: Whistler’s Nordic Development Centre (WNDC) is growing, and in its sixth year of existence welcomes 18 young biathlon athletes. The 2021/22 intake is starting this month with four different high performance program streams, tailored to athletes who are working towards becoming part of Canada’s biathlon elite. In its first five years, the centre supported 24 athletes, 17 of them were later accepted to the national teams. With that, the WNDC is considered one of Canada’s most successful development hubs for biathlon, and it is the only centre of its kind west of the Rockies. WNDC athletes train at Whistler Olympic Park with an expert coaching team, and can both live and work at Whistler’s Olympic legacy venues.
Eleven young biathletes have been selected for the full-time/year-round Podium and Performance program streams, three more athletes are joining the team for the summer months. In addition to that, four young BC athletes come through the new “Next Gen Program”, which was added this year in cooperation with the local Sea to Sky Nordics club. The new Next Gen model allows young Sea to Sky talents ages 16 and up to train with the WNDC group while still going to school. They train with the team once a week and during several training camps throughout the year, and learn and benefit from the centre’s training and performance services at a young age.
Head Coach Etienne Letondeur is excited about this year’s athlete selection: “We are in an Olympic year. Our athletes are a bit too young to go to the 2022 Games, but this will be their time to focus and get ready for the next Olympic cycle. Should senior team members retire after the upcoming Games, we will have some strong candidates that could earn a spot on the senior team next year.” While the pandemic has complicated training and competitions for all sports, the WNDC’s hub model with one main location and a closed training group has proven beneficial in the last year. Letondeur: “We are extremely lucky to have world class venues to train on every day, and we are working hard every day. Once we can travel and compete again, we can show how much our team has grown.”
More information on the WNDC programs, as well as athlete biographies can be found here.