Honduran-born Spanish 800m runner Elvin Josué Canales recently announced a massive career shift that requires relocating completely across the globe. The 24-year-old athlete explicitly detailed the severe emotional toll of abandoning his familiar training environment in Spain for a total athletic reset. He recently opened up to ABC regarding the intense psychological struggle preceding this monumental international departure.

Canales candidly confessed the severe emotional toll of this massive decision during his media appearance.

“I spent a week crying. It was a grieving process. I knew I was going to leave, that I was going to make a complete change, that I was going to leave everything behind. And I told Santi Pérez, the head of New Balance, my sponsor,” Canales revealed in his interview with ABC.

He then further detailed the psychological breakthrough that finalized his departure.

“And I also worked on it with María, my psychologist. And that’s when I realized there’s a huge difference between feeling bad and not running, and feeling bad because you’re not running. And I didn’t want to get caught in a mental loop,” he continued.

This painful psychological realization officially ended a highly productive four-year stint at Spain’s Sant Cugat High-Performance Center.

The frustration became harder to ignore during the summer. Watching the European Championships finals from the sidelines was particularly painful for an athlete who wanted to be in the race. Canales felt his work was no longer translating onto the track and feared he was becoming an ordinary middle-distance runner. After the Vallehermoso meeting in July, he knew something had to give.

Canales spent the last three years training under coach Carles Castillejo after receiving clearance to compete for Spain in 2024. The 800m specialist subsequently met the Olympic standard by running 1:44.49 in Guadalajara to secure his ticket to the Paris Games. He eventually reached the World Indoor Championships final in Nanjing in March 2025, taking a historic bronze with a 1:45.03 finish. That incredible momentum unfortunately vanished completely during a highly frustrating follow-up campaign.

The young track star suffered a devastating early exit during his 2026 indoor campaign after posting a sluggish 1:47.30 in the heats. He subsequently watched the European Championships finals from the sidelines while feeling his natural sprinting speed fading due to endurance-heavy training. He officially decided to terminate his emotional partnership with Castillejo following a disappointing July meeting in Vallehermoso.

This desperate need to rediscover his explosive speed led him to seek a radical geographical solution.

Why did Josue Canales choose Australia?

Canales actively rejected the idea of transferring to another Madrid-based facility because he desperately wanted to shatter his daily routine. He instead targeted a massive relocation to Melbourne to train under elite 800m specialist Justin Rinaldi. The veteran Australian coach famously works with top-tier middle-distance runners like Josh Hoey and European champion Mark English. The Spanish star explicitly detailed the aggressive mindset driving this specific coaching selection.

“I realized I wanted to train with the best, to be in an elite group where I’m the worst of the bunch,” Canales explained. “And to work on my speed again, to go back to my roots, to rediscover my spark. So several coaches came up.”

He firmly emphasized his willingness to endure extreme geographical isolation to achieve his athletic goals.

“And I don’t care where it is. If I have to go to Antarctica, then I’ll go to Antarctica! I already knew Rinaldi, who’s going to be my new coach,” he added. The young runner formally reiterated his singular focus on his primary event to justify the massive relocation.

“He’s a specialist in 800-meter runners, which is what I want to be. I’m not interested in the 1,500 meters,” he concluded. This incredibly focused athletic vision comes with a severe personal price tag regarding extreme geographical distance.

The 24-year-old expects to officially arrive in Melbourne by October 1 before briefly returning home around Christmas. He will actively battle extreme loneliness while intensely targeting the European Championships in Valencia and the massive 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.