Barrette’s on track for great things
Canada’s only triple medallist in cycling introduces himself to the rest of the country
One of Canada’s top track cyclists, Hugo Barrette is the pride and joy of the Magdalen Islands, a tiny archipelago off the Quebec coast, where he can’t take a step without running into a fan, a supporter, someone he knows. He is much less well known throughout the rest of Canada, but his breakthrough performance at the Pan Am Games is likely to change that.
The 24-year-old, the only triple medallist from a powerful Canadian men’s team, won two gold medals and a bronze and announced his presence to casual fans.
“It’s just the start,” he said after finishing his excellent Games at the Milton velodrome. “We’re all young riders and there’s some good years to come.”
Barrette has already had some good years on his own, another reason that he’s likely to become more famous as his career progresses.
In 2014, he made his way to seventh in the world cycling rankings after finishing fourth at the World Cup keirin and he became the first Canadian man to be ranked in the top10 in the last 20 years.
Barrette is one of the prime examples of Canadian athletes taking advantage of a home-court advantage to have breakthrough performances. He moved from his usual California training base to Milton a couple of months before the Pan Am Games to work full-time out of the new velodrome.
It paid off handsomely and should stand him in good stead as his career continues.
For now, he’s just ecstatic about his Pan Am performance.
“It’s the best feeling of my life,” he said. “It’s all thanks to Cycling Canada, Sport Canada and Own the Podium. Those three have been really concentrating my focus on track cycling, and, man, you can see the fruits of this right now!” This story is part of a series on Canada’s breakout stars at the Pan Am Games.