Airdrie sprinter Princess Roberts enjoyed her first taste of athletics fame Oct. 6 to 18, when she competed for Team Canada at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in Buenos Aires, Argentina. After spending nearly three weeks in South America, Roberts came home Oct. 20 having finished 11th in the women’s 200-metre (m) sprint. She posted times of 24.92 and 24.37 seconds for a combined time of 49.29 in her two heats. The 17-year-old Airdrie Aces member said it was a surreal and, at times, overwhelming experience to attend the YOG. Roberts was one of 15 track-and-field athletes from Canada – and one of just two from Alberta – who competed in Argentina. She said the Buenos Aires locals were very enthusiastic the city was hosting the event, and would often approach athletes to talk to them or take photos. “It just felt very weird, because I'm not that popular,” Roberts said. “I go to school and do normal teen stuff, and now, people are wanting to take pictures with me? “It was just weird and overwhelming, but cool, because I got to see that many people.” While she was happy with her second run, Roberts said she felt she had more in the tank following her first heat. “I felt I could do more, and after you do the 200-m, if you feel you could do more, it’s probably not a very good sign,” she said. The Airdrie native’s personal best in the 200-m – for which she is the number-one ranked U18 female sprinter in Canada – is 24.05 seconds. Had she matched that PB in her two heats, she would have finished as high as fifth. “When I saw my [first heat] time, I was just very disappointed,” she said. “So, I talked with the coaches that were there, and they basically told me to go full-out and not hold anything back." There were many things Roberts said she learned from the Youth Olympic experience – like focusing on herself, instead of on the runners in the next lanes. “In the first heat, I was worrying about what everyone else was doing and…[I felt] everything I had done before, to get to this point, wasn’t correct,” she said. “I think it taught me to trust myself and trust that I know what to do in races – I've done it a lot of times, so it's OK." Away from the track, Roberts said she learned to be more confident when talking to strangers and to worry less about what people thought. “I guess it taught me to be less anxious about what I say and do, and just speak and be myself,” she said. Currently, Roberts is taking a break from what has been a very busy 2018 track-and-field season, which was extended by two months so she could train for and compete in the Youth Olympics. Now, she said, her priority is to consider which university to attend after she graduates from Bert Church High School next spring. “I have some places in the United States and also some places in Canada I'm looking at,” she said, adding schools currently on her radar include Guelph University and Western University in Canada, and the University of Montana in the U.S. “Mainly, it's just to keep my grades up, and then track is second, but they go hand-in-hand a lot.” Along with scoping out a potential post-secondary destination, Roberts said qualifying for the 2019 Pan American Games in Peru next summer is her other main focus for the upcoming track season.
