Team England's Ethan Hussey is ready to express his personality on the athletics track after a fashionable introduction to the international scene.

The 21-year-old from Leeds found his 800m calling as a teenager and has announced himself onto the scene with U20 world bronze and European U23 silver medals in recent years.

But Hussey admitted that he is indulging in more than just what is offered on the track after featuring in the recent Shanghai Diamond League photoshoot and stepping up his fashion game.

It was an opportunity that he believes can help develop the sport by giving athletes the chance to express themselves in a new and interesting way.

"That shoot was great," he said. "It's just one of those things you see on social media every now and again, and I'm always like, 'Yeah, I want to be part of that.'

"We see fashion getting massively pushed now through the likes of Noah Lyles. He's trying to bring it into the sport more and more so it's good to see the Diamond League pick it up.

"Hopefully those fashion shoots are here to stick around because I had great fun. It was really fun to express yourself, not just as an athlete but to put your own personality out there.

"It also gives you the opportunity to come across new athletes that you might not come across normally.

"So I met some javelin and pole vault athletes. It's nice to break out the rhythm and the mould of the same thing every day and it's something different that will do really good things for the sport."

Hussey's first sporting love was rugby but he soon picked up the running bug when he joined his primary school's cross-country team.

It was the spark that lit the fire, citing his first English Schools national title as the moment that he knew he wanted to be an elite athlete.

"I started out playing rugby from the age of three and then once I got to primary school, there was the opportunity to join the school cross-country team," he said.

"It all stemmed from there really, and I started doing the cross-country, local schools, regionals, counties, and then found myself here at the university at Leeds Beckett where I've now been based for the past 12 years under the same coach, Andy Henderson.

"When I won my first national title, at English schools back in 2017, I thought 'I really enjoy this', I enjoyed the feeling, the winning and I still remember that moment now.

"You never forget the feeling of your first big, big race."


Hussey is one of five young athletes chosen to receive the Team England Sir John Hanson Scholarship, a programme designed to support the next generation of English talent as they embark on a challenging journey and assist them in fulfilling their potential on the international stage.

It's a programme he has been on for more than six months now, hearing from fellow Team England athletes and learning that everyone's path to the top of elite sport is different as he pursues his dreams of success on the athletics track.

"The scholarship has allowed me to professionalise my training, professionalise my training environment and everyone else around me," he said.

"The money helps massively for my coach to come to races, to camps, and then also the workshops that are behind the scenes that we can also do internally with the other athletes in other sports as well.

"Everyone has their own story. I've got my own, but it's just learning about patience.

"At some point your time will come. You've got to keep on putting in the hard work, turning up day or night, rain or shine. Just keep turning up, putting in the work and one day you'll reap the rewards."