Earlier this winter, Sauce Ambassador athlete Minty Bradford had the opportunity to represent Canada at the Youth Olympics in South Korea in cross-country skiing. We were so excited to follow along as Minty raced to some awesome results in her very first international competitions. We were able to chat with Minty and hear more about her racing experience and what she learned from the event!

Is this your highest level of competition you have taken part in? Yes, it was my first international competition and before that I had only participated at the national level while living in Canada and France.

What is something different you experienced competing internationally? Definitely everything surrounding the races was on a much bigger scale, staying in the Olympic village. But the races were the same, with just a bit more excitement and pressure. 

What was something that you learned competing at the Youth Olympics? I now know that even though I am racing a different group of people than I would at home, they are still kind of the same because we all just want to ski as fast as possible and have fun doing it.

What was your favorite memory you have from being a part of the Youth Olympics? My favorite memory was the mixed relay because we (my teammates and I) all came into the games not really sure what to expect. In the first individual races we all had really awesome results, and we knew that together we could have a really good race. We came in 6th place overall and it was really fun to race for Canada together. 

What was the most unique thing you ate while in South Korea? We went for a Korean barbecue dinner, and they actually cooked the meat right in front of us at the table. It was really good!

What are your upcoming goals (for the rest of the season and long term)? For the rest of this season, I will race at Canadian Nationals in Nakkertok, Quebec. Being the oldest in my category, I hope to have podium finishes in the races and in the aggregate rankings for the championship. Next season, I will be racing as a U18 and I want to race in Noram Cups as well as at Nationals and World Junior trials. Qualifying for Worlds would be really awesome but it would be a long shot.

Thanks Minty, for taking the time to answer all our questions and we are excited to continue to follow your racing success!! You can also follow along with Minty’s competitions by following her on Instagram at @mmintybradfordd.