St. Albert heptathlete Niki Oudenaarden is striving for perfection at the Royal Canadian Legion nationals.
“The last couple of heptathlons I’ve done I haven’t performed to my absolute ability so this time it would be great if I could do almost every event perfectly and just do the absolute best that I could,” said the 16-year-old.
The heptathlon is a combined events contest involving the 100 metre hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200m, long jump, javelin and 800m.
Oudenaarden’s main concern on the eve of Legion nationals was the high jump. She cleared 1.70m during indoors but so far this summer her best is 1.58m.
“I used to be a very good high jumper but lately I’ve been going through some troubles but I’m starting to fix those up,” said the five-foot-10, hard-hitting volleyball player with the Paul Kane Blues. “If I could do a new PB, that would be amazing.”
Her third straight trip to the Canadian youth track and field championships starts Friday at the Terry Fox athletic facility in Ottawa.
“When you compete in Alberta you compete against the same girls and guys all the time so you get used to your competition,” she said. “When you go to Legion nationals it’s a completely different group of people so it’s a new mental and physical game that you have to bring to the table. It’s also a lot of fun to go to and compete your best.”
Last year Oudenaarden concentrated on individual events after placing fifth overall in the U17 heptathlon as a first-year midget at the 2008 Legion nationals. In the U15 ranks the Edmonton Olympic Track and Field Club product won bronze in shot put with a measurement of 12.18m and placed sixth in javelin at 32.62m. She also fouled out in the long jump. “That was very sad.”
Her last tune-up before Legion nationals was a medal-winning performance at westerns with Team Alberta last month in Winnipeg. In the youth division she was awarded gold in shot put (10.78m), javelin (37.96m), discus (29.92m) and the 4x100 relay and silver in the 100m hurdles (15.00 was a personal best time) and medley relay.
“It was a really good meet. I’m usually more of a jumper but they signed me up for shot put, discus and javelin so that weekend I was more of a thrower,” Oudenaarden said. “It was quite interesting actually because when I went up to the podium for shot put, I was surrounded by these two bigger girls who were very strong looking and I look tinier than lots of throwers. When I got up there lots of people from the other provinces went, ‘Whoa! You do shot put? You won a shot put medal? How is that even possible?’ That was kind of funny.”
Much to her chagrin in the long jump, she fouled out. “That was depressing.”
Oudenaarden’s last crack at the heptathlon was a recent fourth-place finish in Toronto as the youngest competitor in the senior division.
“I was very far from all of my personal bests and goals so it wasn’t the best meet for me.”
In April she set a U17 Athletics Alberta outdoor record in the long jump with a mark of 5.90m at a meet in California after pulling off a personal best of 6.10m during the indoor campaign. The previous outdoor best of 5.86m stood since 1981.
The provincial age-group outdoor record was the eighth of her budding career, dating back to June of 2008. Oudenaarden is also in the record book three times for the shot put, twice for the heptathlon and once for the javelin and discus.
In May she broke the U18 provincial record in the heptathlon with 4,923 points, five short of the Canadian standard
At the Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association championships in June, Oudenaarden was a multiple medal winner in the Grade 10 junior category and shattered the provincial high school record in the long jump with a leap of 5.75m. The old record was 5.62m by Wendy Jerke of the McNally Tigers in 1980.
Oudenaarden also collected gold in the javelin (37.16m) and shot put (10.46m) and silver in the 200m (25.41). She qualified for provincials as the top finisher in the 200m (26.15), long jump (5.60m), shot put (10.21m) and javelin (34.98m) at the Edmonton zone high school finals.
During the Legion national and western qualifiers at the Alberta Age Group Provincial Championships in June at St. Albert, Oudenaarden won the long jump (5.70m), javelin (38.78m) and shot put (10.50m) and was fourth in the 200m final (25.70) after placing first in her heat (25.30).
“It’s actually been a great outdoor season, even though I haven’t been able to get out and train as much as I normally do, which is kind of a downer,” she said. “I’m absolutely loving the outdoor season because you’re challenged by all the forces of nature. It’s not when you’re indoor and you just show your skills. This is where you have to add your mental game to it a lot because there is wind affecting you, there is heat and there is rain a lot of times too.
“It really is my favourite time because a lot more people end up showing up to the meets. I have a lot of family and friends that come out and watch. Overall it’s a great time in the summer.”
