After joining the "1:42 club" last month, the 23-year-old is the man to beat in the 800m at the world trials in Birmingham

Max Burgin arrives at this weekend’s Novuna UK Athletics Championships in the form of his life after a big 800m PB of 1:42.36 at the Diamond League in London last month.

What’s more, his recent lower leg injury issues are seemingly under control.

Two weeks ago at the Diamond League in the British capital, he finished third behind last year’s Olympic one-two of Emmanuel Wanyonyi of Kenya and Marco Arop of Canada. His time was a PB by almost a full second and lifted him to No.3 on the UK all-time rankings – just ahead of Steve Cram and Peter Elliott and just behind Ben Pattison, who ran 1:42.27 last year, and Seb Coe, the UK record-holder with 1:41.73 from 1981.

“I’ve known for a while that I’m capable of running 1:42,” the 23-year-old says, “but London was the opportunity to do it and for once I was able to get out and not get swamped.”

Burgin is partly referring to the Diamond League in Monaco just over a week earlier where he was bumped and baulked and came home in a disappointing 1:46.71. “My hamstrings were a little tight there as well,” he says. “I got a bad trip, nearly fell over and it locked my legs up and it was all over from there!

“But in London I made sure I got myself to the front, or thereabouts, and out of trouble. It was a cleaner and more honest race.”

On joining the 1:42 club, he adds: “I’m very happy to be up there. Over the moon to have it.”

In recent seasons, Burgin has endured a stop-start career with multiple injury issues, most notably a pain in his Achilles which was eventually diagnosed as an irritated sural nerve.

As part of his plan to manage the problem, he went through a period of wearing Nike super-shoes as “slippers” around the house because they were so cushioned. He doesn’t do this anymore, though, and has generally found a way to deal with the issue.

“It’s not gone away entirely but it’s very much a managed issue,” he explains. “I don’t feel it at all during races and I have a very solid routine for warming it up. I’ve had the odd little thing here and there this season but everybody does, but nothing major. By my standards at least, it’s been smooth sailing.”

He adds: “I’ve found when I’ve had periods of not running, it tends to come back. So one of the solutions is simply to keep up consistent running.”

Burgin was an exceptionally successful teenage runner. Among other things he broke David Sharpe’s long-standing British under-20 record with 1:45.36 in 2019 aged just 17 and then improved it to 1:44.75 the following year just after his 18th birthday.

He then ran 1:44.14 at the start of 2021 but had to sit out the rest of the year with injury. In 2022 he clocked an early season 1:43.52 in Turku but had a nightmare at the World Championships in Eugene when he went into the event as one of the favourites but ended up in a mobility scooter after having developed a blood clot in his calf on the flight to America. “I didn’t watch the final,” he said. “I was too bitter.”

In 2023 he was knocked out in his semi-final at the World Championships in Budapest as his long-time rival and friend, Ben Pattison, won a bronze medal for Britain.

After finishing runner-up to Pattison at the UK Championships in 2024, the pair roomed together at the Games and Burgin ran a PB of 1:43.50 in his semi-final to become the first British runner to make an Olympic men’s 800m final since Andrew Osagie in 2012.

It wasn’t to be in the final, as he placed eighth in 1:43.84. But he’s stepped up a level in 2025 with 1:43.34 in Rabat in May and then 1:43.61 in Paris in June before his breakthrough in London last month.

Studying history in Leeds and coached by his dad, Ian, a former 800m runner himself, Burgin is going into the second half of this season in formidable shape and, if he gets through this weekend’s Novuna UK Athletics Championships, will arrive in Tokyo as a medal contender in one of the toughest events in the sport right now.

Domestic rivals this weekend include Pattison, who is returning to form after an early season injury, Ethan Hussey, Justin Davies, Callum Dodds, Henry Jonas, Alex Botterill and Tiarnen Crorken.

Burgin is the man to beat, though. “It’s not often I make a few races before the champs,” says the Halifax Harrier with a wry smile.