by Stuart Weir
Max Burgin PR in Rabat
Max Burgin’s season opener was a PR in Rabat, running 1:43.34 in the 800m to finish second behind Tshepiso Masalela (1:42.70). He said of the race “Well, for once I didn´t want to go to the front but of course it´s exactly what happened. It slowed up a little bit, so I was assessing and I tried to win, I hit on pretty well. I knew that I was capable of running a personal best. Last year not everything was going well with training, so with all we have done so far in training I knew that I could do it”.
His previous PR was achieved in the Olympic semi-final last year when he ran 1:43.50 but the effort drained him and in the final he was 8th in 1:43.84. His comment in Paris on the Olympic final was: “I just didn’t have it in me like I hoped I would. But I went out there and tried my best. It wasn’t an embarrassing time, even though I came last, I ran a fast race. Probably my fourth fastest ever time. I’m still over the moon about the semi. I thought it might be hard to get to the final. I was in the call room having second thoughts with my previous times. I take this as a positive, and I’ll move on”.
Max’s main coach has been his dad and I recall him explaining to British athletics writers how that worked: “My dad has a little bit of an athletics background. He used to be an athlete himself, when he was about my age, when he was younger. He ran 800 as well. I think his PB is 1:48. So he ran at a decent level. He’s certainly got a lot of knowledge about the event and also he would have learned a lot from my granddad, who coached him and then also coached me when I was younger as well. So he’s certainly been involved in the sport throughout his life. So yeah, I would say it’s got a good level of experience. Maybe just not like me, I suppose. We’re both sort of experiencing this international level as a new thing.
“I think a lot of his influences have been from my granddad and from reading the coaching books of Peter Coe and the coaches of the top 800m runners in that sort of era. But I think a lot of it also comes from his own experience of what has made – or what made him fit when he was a runner. He also learnt a bit when he left running and went into sort of other sports, he did a lot of cycling as well. Obviously, he was never at the same level as me, but I think in principle, a lot of it he sort of carries over. Asking what sort of session would get him fit and very fast? Even if it wouldn’t be to the same sort of performance level as me. So yeah, I think he’s learnt a lot from his own experience as well.
“Hills are a big part of my training programme. And obviously that’s very useful to be in Halifax (in the North of England) as it is quite a hilly place. You’ve got some monster hills, near my home. But also just like the focus of training sessions, I suppose, we put the emphasis on intensity and short recovery, over top end speed, and things like that. So it’s sort of fine-tuning sessions to those sort of parameters”.
2025 is a long season with the Worlds in mid-September. If Max can manage his season well, running a PR in May is a base on which to build.
