From ballet to track, Nicole Ostertag hoping to live Olympic dream

The road to the Olympics often takes a lifetime of work focusing on a single sport, but for Saskatoon’s Nicole Ostertag, the path she hopes will take her to Paris 2024 has been anything but traditional.

“I started out doing ballet,” Ostertag said. “All throughout high school I was living in different spots around North America, attending different ballet schools.”

Ostertag’s career in ballet took her to Calgary, New York, Philadelphia and Toronto where she was enrolled in pre-professional school.

But when she was in Grade 11, Ostertag said she decided that becoming a professional dancer wasn’t something she wanted to keep pursuing.

“Once I decided that ballet wasn’t for me anymore, I needed something else to transition to,” she explained. “In Grade 12 I did the track season just for fun, and didn’t really train for it, and ended up showing some promise.”

Her potential was noticed by University of Saskatchewan (U of S) Huskies track and field head coach Jason Reindl, who was so impressed with how well Ostertag did during her Grade 12 track season that he offered her a spot on the team.

Saskatoon’s Nicole Ostertag competes in the heptathlon, which consists of seven track events. (Mundo Sports Images/Submitted)

After five years honing her craft on the Huskies track team, Ostertag is now within reach of qualifying for the 2024 Paris Olympics in the heptathlon.

The heptathlon consists of seven events – 100-metre hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200-metre dash, long jump, javelin throw, and 800-metre run.

Last year, Ostertag had a breakout season with the Huskies and was able to squeeze out a victory in the U Sports national championship to win her school the gold medal in Langley, B.C. She defeated Canadian Olympian Georgia Ellenwood by just 18 points to secure the upset victory.

Currently, Ostertag ranks as the top Canadian woman in the country and 38th in the world. If she wants to get to the Olympics, she needs to be ranked in the top 24.

Her coach had nothing but praise for what she’s been able to accomplish over the course of the last five years.

“Anytime you get to work with an athlete of Olympic aspirations and calibre, it’s pretty special as a coach,” Reindl said.

“It’s been quite the ride so far, and she just continues to improve and really persevere despite a number of setbacks. She always comes back better than when she left off.”

Because of her success at nationals last year, Ostertag noted that Athletics Canada has taken interest in her and is helping prepare her for a shot at representing Canada at the Olympics.

“They’ve done a really good job supporting me and helping me get myself healthy and recover from some injuries,” she said. “They’ve been providing a lot of support to help me out this Olympic year.”

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She’s been invited to a national team training camp in April in Baton Rouge, La., to get ready for the outdoor season and the road to the Olympics.

So far during the school year, Ostertag hasn’t joined in any of the competitions because she’s still recovering injuries.

Ostertag said she hopes she’ll be able to recover from her injuries in time to realize her dream.

“When I was younger, going to the Olympics was always a dream of mine. As I transitioned into ballet, it wasn’t something I thought about, and then I started up track just for fun. I really didn’t think I’d get to this point, but as I kept going in the sport it started becoming more and more realistic, and here we are,” she chuckled.

“I worked hard to get here, but for so long my focus was on ballet, so I don’t think my younger self thought I would be here.”

Track and field runs in the Ostertag family. Her mom Leisa and her dad Dave were both members of the U of S track team in the 1980s. They competed in the heptathlon and decathlon respectively, and were also members of the Canadian track and field team.

“Both my parents were combined events athletes. Track was kind of in my blood They didn’t think that any of their kids would end up doing track, and then I kind of completely switched gears from ballet to track,” Ostertag said.

“I did my first heptathlon and kind of fell in love with the sport and just kept going with it.”

Her father was inducted into the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame in 2013. During Dave’s track and field career, he won a national championship with the Huskies men’s team. He also set the Canada Games decathlon record in 1985.

Ostertag now has her eye on two major events. First up will be the world famous Götzis Hypo-Meeting in Austria in May, the biggest combined events track meet in the world.

“All the top athletes in the world will be there and it’s an honour to get an invitation to that,” she said.

She will then attend the Canadian Olympic trials in Montreal in June. She said she’s hopeful her performance at those events can earn her a spot in the Paris games.