Bow Valley athletes with Summer Olympic Games potential

BOW VALLEY – It’s no secret that Winter Olympians rule in the Bow Valley.

With the world-class Canmore Nordic Centre to train at and iconic local mountains to slide down, the Bow Valley has become the ideal location for high-level athletes across the country to come to and get to the next level.

However, that’s not to say that more and more local athletes aren’t knocking on the door to participate in summertime sports.

At Paris 2024, explosive sprinter Krissy Scurfield of Canmore is the lone local Olympian participating at the Games in women’s rugby sevens. Though, two other athletes vied for national team spots for the Games this summer including sport climber Becca Frangos and indoor volleyball player Pearce Eshenko, who unfortunately had to pull out due to injury.

With a plethora of young athletes in the Bow Valley expanding their skill set and knowledge in summer sports, there is potential that one day some will wear the Maple Leaf at the biggest summer athletic competition on the planet.

Here are three Bow Valley athletes who fit that mould. 

Kahlen Anderson

Age: 17

Hometown: Canmore

Sport: triathlon

Accomplishments: Third place at 2023 national development series, 2023 Alberta junior cup series winner, 15th in super sprint at 2022 Canada Summer Games

A standout in the western Canadian scene, triathlete Kahlen Anderson has quickly become one of the nation’s top prospects in the endurance multisport.

Hardly a weekend goes by where the active athlete isn’t off competing in a triathlon, or one of the sport’s three disciplines of running, swimming and road biking.

Anderson's had lots of inspiration to draw from, including from world champion Paula Findlay, who occasionally trains in the Bow Valley, or Paris-bound Emy Legault. While at a training session in Montreal, Anderson found herself in the pool with the Olympian.

"We were all like swimming in a group together and I was swimming next to her and trying to follow the line she took," said Anderson.

She said it's exciting to watch all the best triathletes compete at the Olympics.

"I like watching their press conferences and stuff, where they talk about what they had to do to get there and hearing about their journey to the Olympics," said Anderson.

Larix Hallett

Age: 16

Hometown: Canmore

Sport: cross-country mountain biking

Accomplishments: Silver medallist at the 2023 Canadian Championships in cyclocross

10th place in U17 men XCO (cross-country) at 2024 national championships

Larix Hallet has been gaining traction as one of the top teen mountain bikers in Alberta.

Dominating the courses around Canmore, Hallett has been testing his skills against this month in eastern Canada. Facing the country’s best U17 riders, he impressively scored a 10th place finish in XCO at the national championships in Kentville, Nova Scotia.

The keen cyclist said its motivating when the Olympics for XCO riding, many athletes who he follows.

“It's cool to see the fastest in the world against together,” said Hallett. “I'd like to get into some more World Cup racing as I get older and then usually the World Cup racing leads to qualification for things like the Olympics. That would probably be my goals.”

Maddy Mann

Age: 16

Hometown: Canmore

Sport: sport climbing

Accomplishments: Semifinalist at western regional lead event

Qualified to youth nationals for lead and bouldering

Solving problems is what Maddy Mann likes to do.

The teen climber, who recently competed at youth nationals for lead and bouldering in Montreal, relates head-scratching math problems to finding solutions while 15-feet above the ground.

In a lot of ways, the problems a climbing wall presents is like a classroom lesson for Mann.

“I enjoy watching it because I want to try it,” said Mann. “I know that they are probably a lot harder than it makes them seem, but it would just be so fun to like, try the boulders of what they're doing at that higher level.”

Mann will keep a close eye on sport climbing highlights during the Olympics this year.

Particularly of how her idol, U.S. Olympic rocker climber Brooke Raboutou, is doing.

The Canmore climber has drawn inspiration from Raboutou, who pulled double duties as a full-time university student while training for the 2020 and 2024 Olympics.

“She had straight As in university and was going and training for the Olympics [at Tokyo and Paris],” said Mann. “I find that really cool.”