Coe’s record under threat as Burgin builds momentum

UK Championships in Athletics

Dates: 2 – 3 August at Alexander Stadium in Birmingham

Max Burgin will ensure that he visits Tokyo this year, whatever happens next.

The record-breaking 23-year-old has already booked a trip to Japan, a nation he has always wanted to visit, for the end of the season.

However, he should be able to do so with a World Championship medal in his possession.

Given his issues over recent years, Burgin is not taking anything for granted before this weekend’s crucial UK Championships in Athletics in Birmingham.

He only wants to acknowledge that this is “definitely the best first half of a season I’ve had in a long time,” making a careful effort to avoid jinxing his momentum in a BBC Sport interview.

Indeed, the indicators are very promising.

After lowering his personal best of one minute 42.36 seconds when following the reigning Olympic and world champions over the line at the London Diamond League, only four men around the world have run faster than Burgin this year.

David Rudisha set the British record for the third-fastest man in history with that time, which is 1.5 seconds shy of David Rudisha’s 2012 world record.

The Halifax athlete’s recent success as a junior saw him finally realize his true potential, having broken world, European, and British records as a result.

I’ve overcome a lot of the challenges of the past five or six years because I’ve had many obstacles and not necessarily made the same progress as those who had hoped for me in those circumstances, says Burgin.

As Burgin broke through while competing in the 800m with Olympic 800m champion Keely Hodgkinson, comparisons were made to British middle-distance greats Sebastian Coe and Steve Cram.

Their careers have a distinctly different trajectory, with Burgin worried that his early promise would “want” due to injuries and bad luck.

He continues, “Our development had many similarities,” adding that. “Evidemment, her career has absolutely blossomed, and perhaps mine has slowed a little bit.”

“But knowing that I have that same kind of ceiling and what she’s accomplished definitely gives me confidence. Knowing that I’ll be able to ascend there in a future.

Due to groin and hamstring injuries, Burgin missed the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and missed 12 months. The fastest man in 2022 was denied the chance to compete for a world medal after suffering a calf issue that was later identified as deep vein thrombosis.

His coach, his father Ian, and Burgin have both grown accustomed to setting short-term goals.

However, he claims to be “definitely gunning for a medal” should he reach the final in Tokyo given his big ambitions for this World Championship year amid a period of relative consistency.

Even with expectations that the current generation will soon surpass Kenyan Rudisha’s 1:40.91, which was once viewed as untouchable, is a feat of no small feat.

Ben Pattison, 23, the second-fastest Briton in history, and world bronze medalist Ben Pattison, who is also 23 and the second-fastest Briton ever, must first place in the top two in the Sunday final of the British trials to have that chance.

The pair are also quickly edging closer to Lord Coe’s 44-year national record of 1: 41.73.

And now that Burgin is focused on achieving the global medals his talent has long promised, he has already cut off more than a second from his personal best this year.

He acknowledges that it feels doable at the moment because 0.6 seconds is a lot at these faster times.

There are still some quick races left this year, so I’ll definitely want to try them.