We speak to the world 800m medallist about building work and bouncing back from injury

After an uncertain start to the year, the hard work has paid off for Ben Pattison. Following knee and quad pain during winter training stints in both Flagstaff and Potchefstroom, the 2023 world 800m bronze medallist suffered a stress fracture in his femur, resulting in him being in crutches for a fortnight. 

But, such was his enthusiasm to get back to full fitness that, on top of aqua jogging, cycling and cross-training, the 28-year-old built a log cabin in his Loughborough back garden when he was injured. 

“That’s now my new home set-up,” he says, reflecting on a tough period. “I got a cross-trainer from eBay for about £150. I’ve got a Zwift bike in there and a treadmill as well. My parents came up and helped me build it. 

“It was quite a stressful two weeks constructing it but you have to invest in yourself. So I thought: ‘I’ll get this done’. It’s genuinely been life-changing and it just means that I can stop when something hurts, whereas if I had pain out and about I’d have to run or walk home. If that’s three miles away, for example, then it’s more problematic.” 

Pattison opened up his 2025 season with a time of 1:47.09 over 800m at Meeting Stanislas Nancy in France on July 4, before he reduced his season’s best to 1:46.08 at the London Diamond League. 

He undertook his biggest training week since December in the immediate build-up to London and, after running 1:46.82 in the heats at the UK Athletics Championships a couple of weeks later, felt like he was back to his old self. 

A frustrating final followed, however – Pattison clocked just 1:51.58 for ninth in Birmingham. Putting that performance down to “gut issues”, he knew he’d subsequently have to produce a statement run on the circuit to be in with a shot of selection for the World Athletics Championships. 

Then came Budapest. On the same track that he secured world bronze two years ago, Pattison ran 1:44.14, a mark that was not only under the automatic qualification standard for Tokyo [1:44.50] but also the third quickest by a Brit this season [after Max Burgin and Henry Jonas]. 

“I said to myself: ‘Just don’t give up’,” Pattison says. “I gave it absolutely everything in the last 200m. It was such a relief. Before, everyone had written me off and rightly so – I hadn’t done anything good enough to warrant selection.” 

Pattison then backed up his time in Budapest with a dramatic win over Jake Wightman in the 800m at the British Milers’ Club meeting in Tooting Bec. Just one hundredth of a second separated the pair as they clocked 1:45.07 and 1:45.08 respectively. 

“I ticked off the time in Budapest but I then needed to show the selectors that I could beat these calibre of guys,” Pattison says. “When I saw Jake had entered I thought: ‘If I beat him that’s a good sign’.” 

“I know I've always been able to race well. I’ve just learnt to enjoy the moment and take the opportunities.” 

Pattison will now get the chance to stand on a global podium once again, joining Burgin and Tiarnan Crorken in Tokyo. 

Given Pattison’s best is 1:42.27 – second to only Seb Coe on the UK 800m all-time list – write him off at your peril in the Japanese capital. 

“I train to compete at the world level and I’ve been there before, so I know what it takes. One of my main targets this year was to actually break the British record [1:41.73]. Maybe that will happen next season but there are going to be some very quick races in Tokyo.”

If you could choose one person to train/compete with, past of present, who would it be and why?: I think my ideal training partner would be Marco Arop. He’s such a nice guy and we get along well. He would be great for the windy days as I could just sit in behind him. He also likes to take races on and I think that would be ideal for me. I’m not sure he’d be too happy about it, though, if I just sat on his shoulder all the time!