Background
He grew up in Richmond, British Columbia and is the youngest of two siblings, Melanie and Kendra Hartney.
He grew up in Richmond, British Columbia and is the youngest of two siblings, Melanie and Kendra Hartney.
He attended Howard Debeck Elementary School until he was 8 years old and moved to White Rock, British Columbia. There he attended Ecole Laronde Elementary and then Elgin Park Secondary.
Hartney started swimming at the age of 3 and trained with the Richmond Racers Swim Club until he was 8 years of age. Hartney continued swimming in White Rock and joined the Pacific Sea Wolves Swim Club. He stopped swimming halfway through the season when he was 13 years old, but returned the next season because he missed the sport and joined the Richmond Rapids Swim Club.
At the age of 18, Hartney began attending the University of British Columbia and swimming on the varsity team
He begins his second year with the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds after having an extremely successful rookie season. In 2008 Hartney was training with Derek Schoof, head of the UBCD and Thunderbirds swim coach.
Already considered one of the premier individual medley swimmers in the country, Hartney continues to grow at both the Commonwealth of Independent States and international level He had an outstanding meet at the 2007 Commonwealth of Independent States Championships, claiming two silver medals in the 200 and 400 IM, behind former world record holder and teammate Brian Johns, placing fifth in the 200 butterfly, and ninth in the 200 backstroke.
In 2005, he represented Canada at the Australia Youth Festival.
Hartney competed at the 2006 Pan Pacific Championships and finished 5th in the 200 IM and 4th in the 400 IM. In the summer of 2007, Hartney represented Canada at the World University Games in Bangkok. He placed fifth in the 400 IM with personal best time of 4:21.99
Hartney uses music, breathing and visualization techniques to help him prepare for a big race.