by Stuart Weir
Max Burgin’s fast 2025
2025 was a good year for British 800m runner, Max Burgin. He ran a PR or 1:42.29 for sixth place in Tokyo just after coming second in the Diamond League final in Zurich (1:42.42). In earlier Diamond League races, he was 2nd in Rabat, 3rd in London and 4th in Paris and Lausanne.
Of the World Championship final he said: “I’ve been getting more 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”.
Max is very comfortable as a front-runner but he explained why, in the World Championship final, after winning his prelim and coming second in the semi, he decided to follow the leaders: “It doesn’t make sense for me to go to the front. In the semi-final when they set off and it was a bit tentative I was happy to take charge and go to the front, but just not [in the final] against these lads running that pace”.
He added another perhaps frustrating thought: “In any other point in history, I might be guaranteed a medal, but now there are like 15 athletes in with a chance, which is something great for the event. It is the quality of this competition that is pushing on those times”.
After his second place in the Diamond League final, just weeks before Tokyo, he had said “To be able to race at this kind of level was amazing. It means that I can medal at that kind of level. The decisive moment was on the last 50m. I need to wait. It’s about learning how best to utilise the kick at the end in these sort of races. I have been racing this all season, all Diamond League season. Zürich was a bit of a world championships field, like a test. I am dreaming of being at the exact same position at the worlds.
“I took a lot of confidence from Zürich that I can be that close to not just Wanyonyi, the Olympic champion but with Arop, the previous world champion and also properly in the mix. I think that’s the first time this season that I’ve really felt like I had a proper chance of winning and had things gone slightly different, I think I could have. So just a lot of confidence really”.
One of the reasons 2025 went so well is that Max has managed to remain fit and healthy: “I don’t think much approach-wise has changed at all, to be honest. Obviously it has been a great season, consistency-wise, my first one since probably 2018 that I think I’ve actually managed to have a full season and hit pretty much every race I wanted to. In terms of anything changing though, I can’t say we have really. The issues that I’ve had in the previous two years – three years – haven’t really been ones that had been brought about by anything specific in training. There’s nothing that we’ve done really to bring them on, especially that sural nerve issue that has been the main thing bothering me the last two years. That’s mainly been managed this year and sorted through a few series of stripping injections that I’ve got over the winter. And I guess maybe more knowledge of how to avoid setting it off. So maybe a few minor adjustments here and there, but mainly it’s just been a case of those things becoming resolved and me being able to actually train the way we wanted to train”.
I was also interested to know if Max approached paced races – like Diamond League – different from a championship race. His answer was: “I think in our event how Wanyonyi often approaches championships means that the races go quite similarly either way. Now obviously that could change. He could change that and if he does, I think, it would be a considerably different race because there’s not too many other front runners in the mix at the moment. I know I’ve tried that approach before in championships, but whether it would be right at the moment, I have no idea. Whether it will be any different than a paced race, I am not sure, but I think it would be very interesting because we haven’t really seen a proper slow tactical one in the Diamond Leagues at all this year”.
One thing that Max has in his sights is Seb Coe’s British record od 1:41.73, set in 1981: “Yes definitely after this season, it feels very much within touching distance. Whether it’ll be something, I could run at a championship, I don’t know. Championship running is not always the best place to go chasing times. Although having said that, certainly the Paris final went fast last year. It could very well be a possibility. But, yeah, it’s something that feels very much achievable now for me and I’m sure Ben Pattison as well, when he gets back to having a full season again as well. Hopefully we’ll see it broken this year”.
2026 has a lot of possibilities for Max Burgin.
