Michael Hussey competes on the track. Photo by Louis Christ.
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Saskatoon teen to make national team debut at Commonwealth Youth Games

Michael Hussey is a week away from the biggest race of his life.

The 17-year-old, who trains with the Saskatoon Track Club, is poised to compete for Canada at the Commonwealth Youth Games, which take place Aug. 4-11 in Trinidad and Tobago. Hussey will line up in the 800-metre semi final heats on Aug. 9.

“It’s an honour this opportunity has come to me so early and I think it’s going to be a great experience to run for Team Canada,” Hussey says. “My goal for this summer is to just race as hard as I can at Commonwealth and show what I can do for my country.”

Hussey, who just finished Gr. 11, played soccer and ran track and cross country in elementary school before joining Saskatoon Track Club, where he started running sprints. It wasn’t until Gr. 10 that he decided to switch to mid distance because a number of his friends were on the team.

It didn’t take long for Hussey to establish himself as a force to be reckoned with in the 400m and 800m distances and, at the beginning of Gr. 11, he gave up soccer to focus on track full time.

“I’ve kind of just worked down my times pretty evenly,” Hussey says of his progress. “I haven’t necessarily had enough races to show my times slowly coming down, but in training you can definitely tell that I’ve just slowly been getting faster and faster over the last two years.”

Michael Hussey competes on the track. Photo by Louis Christ.
Michael Hussey competes on the track. Photo by Louis Christ.

By the end of May, Hussey’s name was in the middle of Athletics Canada’s ranking list for athletes eligible to be selected for the 2023 Commonwealth Youth Games and NACAC (North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletic Association) U18 Championships. Teams for both competitions are pulled from the athletes who come closest to ambitious standards that are spelled out each year.

Hussey’s personal best was 1:55.27 — more than five seconds off the men’s 800m standard of 1:49.30 — but he and his coaches believed he could run much faster. So Hussey signed up for the U16 & U18 Trials and All Comers Meet in Regina over the June 11-12 weekend where he ran a blistering 1:51.68 to win the open race against competitors on varsity track teams. The time was the fastest U18 clocking by a Canadian in the 800m for 2023 and a new Saskatchewan U18 outdoor record, which rocketed him near the top of the ranking list.

So, mere days later, Hussey and his mom sat anxiously around Hussey’s computer waiting to hear if the time would be good enough to secure Hussey a spot on his first national team.

“The email came and I opened it up, started reading and, to my surprise, it was a very nice letter saying I had made the team,” Hussey recalls. “Both me and my mom started saying ‘Hurray!’ and it was a really exciting time.”

The Commonwealth Youth Games mark Hussey’s first international meet — the farthest afield he’s ever competed previously was the National Youth Track and Field Championships in Quebec last year — and he’s looking forward to getting to know the 16 other athletes who’ll be making the trip alongside him.

“It’ll be great to make friends with all these people who also have the same kind of mindset as me,” he says.

For now, his focus is on racing well at the Games. And, as for longer term goals, that’s something to ponder after.

“I just kind of take it day by day,” Hussey says. “I try not to stress myself out and think too far into the future. I think as long as I get what I need to get done today, tomorrow I can think of what I’m going to do then.”

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