by Stuart Weir
This is Stuart Weir’s story on Max Burgin, a young 800m runner, who is coming oh so close to Seb Coe’s British record at the 800 meters. Stuart Weir is the RBR Senior writer for Europe.
Max Burgin: “I’d be delighted with the time in any other race”.
Max Burgin ran a PR of 1.42:29 but wasn’t sure whether to be pleased or not! It was a very fast race with 3 PRs, 2 national records and a championship record. The top three Wanyonyi, Sedjati and Arop all finishing under 1:42. Burgin ran most of the race in second or third place looking comfortable but felt he should have moved out with 200 to go to get a clear run for the line. When to spoke to media immediately after the race his feelings were still raw: “A personal best shows that you’re pretty much operating at close to your maximum. If I had run that time in any other race this year, I’d been buzzing with it, but today it just feels disappointing, really. I mean not enough. I should have moved wide earlier because I couldn’t get through when I first kicked and nearly ran to the back of the leaders. Not my finest display although at least I’ve got a PB”. He explained that he was happy to lead the semi-final when the pace was quite slow but when it was such a fast race “it doesn’t make sense for me to go to the front against these lads running that pace”.
Speaking about a season in which he had run 1:42 three times – 1:42.36 in London, 1:42.44 in Zurich and 1.42:29 in Tokyo, he said “when I comes to term with this race, I think I’ll look back on this season and I’ll be very happy with what I’ve achieved. It’s been consistent and being able to run three 1:42s, that’s something I’m incredibly proud of. It is just that it not what I wanted it to be today, but that doesn’t reflect on the season. I think I’ve had a good one and I’m happy with it. I’ve been getting that confidence from races all season. I have been finishing well, running fast times so if anything, sixth is a bit of a disappointment compared to where I’ve been finishing in the Diamond Leagues this season but not a disaster. It was a good time, it was a decent race”.
Athletes are hard to satisfy!
