Yukon’s Minty Bradford is going to be competing in her first international event.

Aramintha, or Minty as she’s better known, will be racing in cross country in the Gangwon 2024 Winter Youth Olympic Games.

Gangwon is located in the Republic of Korea (South Korea).

Bradford was chosen to the team based on her performances during the Alberta Cup 1 and 2 which took place in Canmore Dec. 9-10.

She also competed at the 2023 Canada Winter Games in P.E.I. last February.

The Star spoke with Bradford before she left for South Korea.

“I went to the qualification races in the beginning of December. So that was a weekend of two races. And I came second place in the first race on the Saturday and then I won the distance race on the Sunday.”

Bradford, 15, finished first in the U18 girls 7.5 km classic race in Canmore to earn a spot in Gangwon.

The first race she competed in was a one kilometre skate sprint race. That was followed by her win in the 7.5 km classic.

When asked the reason for her success in Canmore, Bradford replied, “I think I have to go back to my training all summer long and almost all because of that I was able to have a good base and race as well as I can this winter.

“This summer I did a lot of running, roller skiing, hiking, biking. Really a lot of all different types of training. And then within that I would do some slower long distance days or I would do some more intense and shorter workouts depending on what I wanted to get out of each day.”

Bradford said she’s “really excited to go over to South Korea and meet all these new people that I’m going to race against and then have a really good time being in a new place and racing with lots of people.”

Bradford said she’s expecting to be racing with 80 other athletes at a time.

“I think racing with that many people will be really good experience for me.

“Outside of racing, I’m really excited to go to Korea and learn about South Korea and then also being part of the Youth Olympics experience and watch other sports and see lots of people from different countries.”

Wearing Canadian colours for the first time could be daunting.

“I think it’ll be pretty nerve wracking the first time but I’m excited to do it and be able to represent Canada at such a big international competition.”

The key to success in Korea will be sticking with the process that’s gotten her there.

“I think I just have to do what I’ve been doing in all my races and my training this year. Just focus on what I need to do to be there. And then once I’m doing that just stay in the same rhythm I’ve been doing all winter at races.”

As for her future, Bradford has two and a half years of high school left.

“I’ll be skiing with the Yukon ski team and training at home for that period. And then obviously, I’ll be going outside of the Yukon to do racing in Canada and hopefully some international races in a couple of years.

“And then when I graduate high school, I’d like to continue skiing and hopefully racing at a higher level.”

Bradford was asked about the possibility of racing in the Olympics in the future.

“Right now I don’t really know but I think in a long term sense of direction that’d be kind of cool. My coaches right now, a lot of them have either been in the Olympics or guided at the Paralympics so it’s really cool to see that and then we’ll see what I do when I’m older.”

When the World Cup was also suggested as a potential in the future, Bradford responded, “Right now World Cup is still pretty far away. I’m still only 15, so maybe when I’m a bit older.”

Bradford added, “Thank you to all my coaches and team in the Yukon. It’s been really good to be training with these people. I like it a lot.”

Bradford was scheduled to fly to South Korea on Tuesday. A few days of training was to follow her arrival.

Cross-country skiing will take place Jan. 29 to Feb. 1 (Day 10 to 13) at the Alpensia Biathlon Centre.