Michael Barber is ready for another record

After setting seven national records last summer, Barber has his eyes on a world record at the Track Classic

By: Joshua Kozelj

Ten minutes before the race started, Michael Barber had a question. 

“Hey dad! Can I run in this race today?” He asked. 

It was 2006, and Barber was in Esquimalt watching a local running race, the Torch Relay, with his father. Something came over him before the start of a kids 1km road race, something that pulled him to the start line. 

Subconsciously, perhaps, running had always been in the back of Barber’s mind. 

He has a lengthy family history in the sport. His father, Gary, represented Canada at the Commonwealth Games in 1990, and a distant cousin won gold in the hurdles in 1932. 

But Barber hadn’t fully invested himself into the sport of running, not yet. He was still years away from joining a serious club, devoting himself to training, and becoming one of the best young runners in the country. 

At the time, six years old and without a clue how difficult the sport can be, Barber simply wanted a chance to run. 

“Absolutely! Let’s give it a go,” his father replied. 

Minutes before the race, Barber did a short run, and then was corralled into the start line. When the race began, Barber surged to the front, maintained his lead, and crossed the line first. 

It was the first time Barber felt like he could be special. Even at the young, ripe age of six, Barber had the inkling that he could be someone who could go places in the sport, earn a living, represent Canada himself one day, and set world records—like he aspires to do at this year’s Track Classic. 

“I remember crossing the finishing line that day, I felt like I was a champion runner that day,” he said. “From that point onwards, I had a feeling that something special was going to come down the road.” 

When he was a young boy, Barber was diagnosed with autism. 

In an interview with Athletics Illustrated nine years ago, Gary professed that he didn’t know what sort of impact it would have on their life as a family. 

“I decided that rather than viewing our family as victims of a diagnosis, we would attempt to do all the normal things families do; involving the boys in sport was one of them,” he said. 

The diagnosis never slowed him down, though, or deterred him from achieving success in running. In fact, Barber developed such an intense passion for running that he has an encyclopedic knowledge of the sport, and a desire to follow in his dad’s footsteps. 

“I also got involved with running at such a young age because of my dad, he told me all about his stories, and it inspired me,” Barber said. 

He’s a regular kid with big dreams. The only difference being that he’s actually already accomplished some of those big dreams. 

Barber represented Canada at the 2017 World Junior championships, where he won gold in the 1500m. Two years later, he competed at the World Juniors and Parapan Am Games.

Last summer was an even bigger breakthrough for Barber. He set seven national records on the track in the T20 classification, a category for athletes with autism, and missed the Olympic standard in the 1500m by just nine tenths of a second. 

He credits the breakthroughs to his training program: a weekly schedule that includes two weekly workouts, one endurance and one speed, and a long run on Saturday. 

“I was really quickly gaining confidence, and I was getting personal bests like every two weeks,” he said. 

With two weeks until the start of the Track Classic, Barber is planning on running either the 800m or 1500m. He’s leaning towards the 800m, and having the chance to set a new world record. 

Over the phone from Victoria, it’s easy to tell just how knowledgeable he is about running times. Not only does he know his personal bests down to the tenth of a second, but he also knows the marks he aims to hit. 

“I’m hoping to get that world record which is 1:52.55,” he said. “Or, if I don’t get it, I’m hoping to [lower] my other Canadian record which is 1:55.28 for the 800.” 

Regardless of what unfolds at the Track Classic—whether Barber gains a world or national record—he’s not letting the pressure get to him. 

Running makes him feel free. Running has made him a champion. Running has brought him to various corners of the world, and helped him meet people he never would have encountered before. 

“With running, I just love the nature of it, I love the atmosphere,” he said. “It brought me into a lot of best case scenarios.”