Tarik van Wieren, 16, who made his international FIS competition debut at the Junior World Championships held in Whistler in February this year, will take to the ski jumping hill in Pyeongchang. After jumping 48 meters with 3.2 points, he took last place, a huge loss for the penultimate competitor. But since then he has made considerable progress. Already in the fall, he took 3rd place at the Lake Placid competition, where American and Canadian jumpers competed. Last weekend in Notodden he made his debut with 53rd and 51st places in the FIS Cup.
“Representing Canada at the 2024 Youth Olympic Games is very cool,” says van Wieren. — I’m especially excited to be able to jump on the same hill that Mackenzie Boyd-Clowes competed on during the 2018 Olympics – it’s a huge honor! – rejoices the young jumper, who began his adventure with this discipline at the age of seven. He mainly trains on American ski jumping hills, but he has also had the opportunity to train in Slovenia and Poland.
“Tarik is a very talented and promising athlete,” says Mike Bodnarchuk, Co-President of Ski Jumping Canada. — We can’t help but admire his determination to become a competitive ski jumper, given the lack of facilities in Canada. I am happy that Tariq’s hard work allowed him to qualify for the Youth Olympic Games. This will be a huge opportunity for him, which he can capitalize on in the future, explains the activist.
– Congratulations to Tariq on being named to the Canadian team for Gangwon 2024 – said Lisa Weagle, Canadian Team Leader for the Gangwon Games. — Although he may be the only Canadian ski jumper competing in these Games, he has an entire nation behind him cheering him on. We can’t wait to see you take flight, Tarik! – he adds.
Van Wieren will travel to Korea with Slovenian coach Uros Vrhovec. Mitchell Penning will be the reserve jumper, but he will remain in the country and will only join the team in the event of possible indisposition of his colleague. Penning also started during the PK at Notodden, but was placed at the back of the pack. Remember that in 2012, the Canadian team composed of Dusty Korek, Taylor Henrich and Nathaniel Mah won the bronze medal at the Youth Games in Innsbruck.
This summer, in a conversation with our website, one of the local coaches, Nigel Lauchlan, had a positive outlook on the future of ski jumping in Canada. — A little change since last year, admits the coach. — New financing possibilities have emerged. We received funding for athletes qualifying for the Junior World Championships in Whistler. Our Calgary club has about 15 athletes who train on our small hill year-round. This winter we rebuilt a 40 meter facility about 90 minutes north of Calgary and were able to train there once a week throughout the winter. We once again have an official provincial team that trains a lot off the slopes.
— The programs of our development teams are increasingly better organized and include a greater number of trips. The progress we have seen in one year is incredible. America’s coaches can’t believe these are the same athletes we brought to Park City in January. I believe that cohesion and cooperation between all levels of the organizational structure, clubs and regions, is the key to our success. If we manage to win in the United States against the Americans, who have more than twenty active installations, then I think we can think about further development and victories elsewhere, Lauchlan concluded optimistically.
