Ahigh-speed sprint to the top
Hamilton’s Myles Misener-Daley’s stunning 400-metre time has him on the fast track to international meets
JUST 13
MONTHS after competing in his first 400-metre race, Hamilton’s Myles Misener-Daley has run the fastest 400-metre race this year by any Canadian, of any age.
And the Hamilton native is just a few months past his 17th birthday.
“It was pretty shocking to hear it the first time,” he says of covering sprint-racing’s longest distance in 45.99 seconds at last month’s Ontario high school championships.
“I’m still trying to stay pretty grounded because I know there are people in other countries who are faster.”
He’ll get to face some of them at the Jamaica International Invitational in Kingston, Jamaica, next weekend as he competes for the first time as a member of an official Canadian team.
And, on Tuesday, Athletics Canada, the sport’s national governing body, announced that Misener-Daley will be on Team Canada for the IAAF World U20 Championships, from July 10 to 15 in Tampere, Finland.
“I always watched track on TV and thought it was so cool, and wished I could do that, represent my country,” Misener-Daley says, “Now it’s kind of a shock that I am. It really means a lot.”
The Grade 11 Westdale student and Hamilton Olympic Club member won the sprint “triple crown” at last month’s OFSAA championships.
It was his second straight OFSAA sweep of the 100-metre, 200-metre and 400-metre races, this time at the senior level. Last year, he won the same three races at the junior level. It is believed to be the only time a runner has captured two provincial sprint triple crowns. Only a half dozen or so have ever won even one.
His 100 metres (10.64) at OFSAA was the fastest run by any Canadian under 18 years old in 2018 and his 200 metres (21.17) is second only to the 21.03 he blazed a week earlier as the top time run this year by a Canadian under 20.
But it was his sub-46 time in the 400-metre race that really caught everyone’s — and we mean everyone’s — attention.
It was his personal best by a whopping 1.2 seconds, which shattered the Canadian under-18 record by eight-tenths of a second. It is also more than a quarter-second faster than any Canadian has covered the distance so far in 2018, racing anywhere in the world.
Last May, Misener-Daley tried a 400-metre race for the first time, in the Mark Graham Invitational at Mohawk Sports Park, named in honour of the late Olympian and five-time OFSAA gold medallist from Hamilton who was killed 12 years ago in combat in Afghanistan.
“I only did it because I was invited, and ever since then it’s kind of become my thing,” Misener-Daley says.
At six-foot-three and 190 pounds, he has the build and staying power for the energysapping 400. Running for Hamilton Olympic coach Matt Hodgson and weight training with family friend Ricardo Saunders of Body One Fitness in Dundas, he’s says he’s added 15 to 20 pounds of muscle in the past year.
Misener-Daley will return to Glendale for Grade 12 in September. After high school, he is hoping to attend a U.S. college on a track scholarship. So far, he’s attracted interest from Arkansas, Texas Tech, Purdue, Kentucky and some Ivy League universities, and will likely hear from others in the near future.
In Jamaica, he’ll compete in only the 200 metres in an attempt to lower his time in the shorter race, at which he also excels. Then he’ll compete in the 400 in the World U20s in Finland. He’s aiming to eventually reach the 45.50-second 400 metre Olympic standard for the 2020 Games in Tokyo.
“I’ll try to run a 400 personal best in Finland, but don’t expect to lower it as much as I did before,” he said. “My goal is to get closer to the (Olympic qualifying) standard. I don’t think I’d make it right now, but I have two years to do it.”
“I’m definitely looking at 2020, but I don’t want that to change my mindset, because it’s been successful. I just want to keep working at it.”