His training done, all Darby McIntyre has left to do is run.

The 15-year-old Special Olympic runner’s bright eyes lit up when discussing his upcoming adventure to the 2015 World Summer Games in Los Angeles, July 25 to Aug. 2.

There, the Yukoner will compete in the 1,500- and 5,000-metre runs.

“I’m very excited,” he said emphatically prior to a scheduled workout at Better Bodies Fitness in Whitehorse Thursday afternoon.

“This feels like the Olympics to me, which I want to get into in the future. I may be getting ahead of myself, but you’ve got to have goals.”

Anything is possible for the ever-smiling youngster, said Graeme Campbell, who has been working as McIntyre’s personal trainer since January.

The two have met twice a week for hour-long sessions focusing on balance, flexibility and co-ordination.

“His training is based on a whole team of people,” Campbell explained, noting local running coaches Don White and Carmen Gustafson have also played key roles.

“They help him with his running. My job is to make sure he has the tools to be able to run.”

Under Campbell’s direction, McIntyre learned to skip rope, lengthened his plank hold from 30 seconds to four minutes, and improved his vertical by 18 inches.

“The thing with Darby is he’s one in a million,” Campbell said. “He can’t do anything wrong. He improved quickly.”

The improvements in his co-ordination and leg power helped perfect his jump out of the starting blocks.

McIntyre also worked hard to maintain his weight and will head to L.A. at his usual trim 123 pounds.

“I have to credit my coaches for molding me into a fit athlete,” said McIntyre. “I’ve got to show these guys how Yukon athletes work out and give it all I’ve got.”

Under White’s direction, McIntyre set a new personal best in the five-km run of 18:13.

He set the mark at a Tuesday night fun run, and hopes to go sub-18 minutes in L.A.

“I’m really confident,” he said.

At nationals in Vancouver last July, McIntyre set a then-personal best in the five-km run with a time of 18:57, earning him a silver medal and rocketing him onto Team Canada’s radar.

Two months later, McIntyre became the first Yukon athlete in 30 years to crack the national World Summer Games team.

The announcement kicked off a whirlwind year in which the youngster kicked his training up a notch.

He travelled to Caledon, Ont., last fall for a national team training camp and also had an opportunity to spend some time in studio with TSN curling announcer Vic Rauter.

On Monday, he heads to L.A., where he will be the youngest member of the 115-member national team.

The World Summer Games will feature 7,000 athletes from 177 countries in 26 sports over nine days.

The Yukon runner is expected to have a family troupe about 30-strong cheering him on from the sidelines.

Being the sole Yukon athlete is a point of pride for the Hillcrest resident.

He plans to hand out as many City of Whitehorse pins as possible, all the while sharing the story of the SS Klondike and the sternwheeler travel of days gone by.

The eldest child of Jerome McIntyre and Elyn Jones, he was diagnosed with autism at the age of three.

This fall, he enters Grade 10 at Vanier Catholic Secondary School.