Troy Henry is an athlete in transition.

The local speed skater and competitive cyclist was forced to reevaluate his athletic aspirations after a brutal arm injury this past October.

Henry started his short-track speed skating season in fine form, posting solid times in several qualifying events for the national team.

In late October he traveled to Cleveland, Ohio to compete in the America's Cup short-track event.

A fall by a skater exiting a corner in the 500-metre event would cause a crash that left Henry with a broken arm and stripped him of the opportunity to compete in additional qualifiers.

"I wasn't aware how long it would take to heal so I was still planning on going to national team qualifiers in Calgary,” he said.

"I didn't know that I wouldn't be able to get to that point.”

The break required surgery and in the first week of November, after returning to Canada, Henry had the arm set with a plate.

"I got the surgery done and the surgeon told me I wouldn't be able to race short-track until the end of the season,” he said.

"I was a little depressed at first because I had trained so hard, I'd been getting good results and my training was going well so when I found out it wasn't going to work out I was pretty upset.”

Following the surgery Henry continued to train away from the ice, riding a stationary bicycle and lifting weights.

In mid-December, Henry made his return.

With the assurance of a doctor and a custom made splint, Henry was back to his routine.

Sort-of.

"I couldn't skate fast at that point but I could at least get on the ice,” he said. "I wasn't allowed on short track but the risk of injury is a little bit lower for long track so I was able to do that.”

Henry had limited experience with long track speed skating. He had competed only once before in the 2009 season.

"I tried it out just to see how it was and I ended up doing pretty well,” he said.

He borrowed an old set of clap blades from one of his friends and used a pair of modified short track boots.

As time went on, Henry began to see a future in the new sport.

"I had a feeling I was going to switch over to long track because short-track is pretty hard to get back into from a technical standpoint and at that point I had some good results so I thought I'd give it a shot,” he said.

Soon after getting back onto the ice, Henry entered the Canada Cup #2 event in Calgary.

Shortly after that, he competed in the Canada Cup #3 in Saskatoon.

After each of these events, Henry's times were noticeably and rapidly improving.

In February, the North American Speed Skating Championships were held at the Olympic Oval in Calgary, Henry's training ground.

Viewing it as an opportunity to gain more experience and compete in a familiar setting, Henry entered the races on whim.

Henry raced in the 500, 1500, and 5000-metre events, competing against the best skaters in North America.

His seventh place overall finish in the 5000-m race rocketed his status into the elite class.

He completed the race in 6:50, 59. The 13th fastest finish in the world this season in the event.

But he wasn't done there.

His time for the 1,500-m event was good enough for the third best time in Canada this season in his age class. He also clocked the fourth best time in nation for his age class in the 5000-m event.

Henry said his success hasn't made him any less motivated or healed the wounds from being forced out of short-track skating.

"I didn't go into that race in Cleveland thinking it would be my last race. I wasn't prepared for that and I still want to race because of it,” he said.

"I have been thinking I'll race one more short-track competition next fall just to be done with it and mentally finished with it.”

In the meantime, Henry is focused on the upcoming Canada Cup #4 to be held in Calgary in mid-March.

"My goal would be to set some times for myself,” he said. "A 6:40 in the 5000-metre and a 1:51 in the 1,500-metre.”

If he hits those marks, he will be competing for the top time in the nation in each of the distances.

"I haven't been in long-track very long so it's hard to say what will happen in the future,” he said. "I've been excelling quickly and I'm sure I'll hit a plateau but there's no way to tell when that will be.”

Henry, who just obtained a long-track coach in January, said he'd like to specialize in the long distance races.

"I'm trying to specialize in long-distance long-track, I'm more suited towards it,” he said.

He finds motivation in constantly seeking improvement.

"I have new goals all the time, I'm always trying to achieve more,” he said.

"It's just a sport I enjoy. I have fun out there.”

When the injury occurred, Henry toyed with the idea of walking away from the sport and focusing on cycling, where he competes on a national level every summer.

"It crossed my mind that my skating career could be over. Cycling has always been something else to go to,” he said.

"Skating is really about your age and injury history while cycling has competitors in there forties because it is more of an endurance sport. The peak age for short-track is a lot younger than cycling so I've always thought that I would go into cycling after speed skating.”

For now, his focus remains on the ice.

He said he feels good heading into the Canada Cup #4 and he has set goals for next season that include landing a spot on a developmental team.

"We'll see how it goes,” he said.

"It's too early to tell. I'm just having fun.”

Henry's career has benefited from the Arctic Winter Games. Having competed in four Games, he captured a total of 16 medals, 12 of which were gold.

He said he wishes the best for this year's Games and will be cheering for the nearly 300 Yukon athletes that will be participating.