Orban eyed as possible future Olympian

ORBAN NAMED RBC TRAINING GROUND ALTA. CHAMPION

A University of Lethbridge Pronghorn’s Olympic aspirations has just received a helping hand.

Pronghorn Sarah Orban was named the RBC Training Ground Alberta Regional Champion last weekend as the varsity soccer midfielder topped a field of 100 of the province's top 1425-year-old athletes for the title.

At the regional final, which included qualifiers from a variety of sports in Okotoks, Lethbridge, Grande Prairie and Edmonton, Orban won the speed award for the six-second bike sprint and finished second place in the 40m sprint, triple jump and single broad jump.

RBC Training Ground is the Canadian Olympic Committee's and RBC initiative to bring new and undiscovered athletes into Canada's Olympic talent pool.

The program gives local athletes — no matter what sport they are involved in — the chance to test their strength, speed and endurance in front of officials from 11 Olympic sports, and earn Future Olympian funding from RBC.

Orban also runs track and field during the indoor season for the Pronghorns and finished seventh in the women's 60m dash at the 2017 Golden Bear open in Edmonton.

She also recorded an eighth place finish in the 300 metres at the Canada West Track and Field Championships.

Orban’s combination of skills first earned attention at the national sport level by recording the best overall vertical jump and sprint results among all females at the RBC Training Ground local qualifier held in Lethbridge March 25.

The veteran Pronghorn has played soccer, volleyball, baseball, softball, run track and cross country, competed in the high jump and swam and has yet to determine her Olympic sport.

In addition to Bobsleigh Skeleton Canada, Cycling Canada and Rugby Canada — some of the 11 national sports governing bodies participating in the program — have begun discussions with Orban about the fourth-year student's future.

With the victory Orban, who hails from Calgary, earns future Olympic funding from RBC — up to $10,000 for up to three years — to be administered by the national sports organization she chooses to work with as well as a trip to the 2018 Olympic Games in Pyeongchang to experience the event.

In 2016, the first year of the program, 25 athletes earned funding and are now working with National Sports Organizations to help bring their Olympic dreams to life.