We chat to the teenager who has started his outdoor season in spectacular style.

Freddie Rowe’s season could hardly have begun in more emphatic fashion. In the space of three remarkable weeks, the teenager delivered a string of performances that have firmly placed him among the brightest young talents in athletics. 

His breakthrough run came at the Mini London Marathon, where he surged to victory in the U18 men’s race in 7:08 over 2.6km. If that performance turned heads, what followed at the Bannister Miles confirmed it was no one-off. Racing in a senior field at the historic event, Rowe produced the performance of his young career so far, clocking 4:00.88 to break the British Under-18 mile record – finishing less than a second shy of the famous four-minute barrier first broken by Roger Bannister.

The momentum carried on into the following week at the Loughborough International, where Rowe made his Great Britain and Northern Ireland debut and claimed victory in the Gandy Mile in 4:04.10 against another experienced field.

In amongst those performances, Rowe also secured the qualifying standard for the European Under-18 Championships, winning the 1500m in 3:45.78 in Birmingham and finishing more than four seconds inside the qualifying time in the process. 

How did you first get into athletics?

I think my first introduction was probably around Year 3 or 4. One of my teachers introduced me to it. He saw me playing football at lunchtime and thought I might be good at running, so he entered me into a few cross-country races. I lost a few of them, but that was really the beginning of it all. I ended up joining the club in Year 6, and since then I’ve always been at Havering AC.

How did it feel to win the Mini London Marathon?

I definitely had high hopes of doing well in it, maybe challenging for the win. I thought it was possible, but I just didn’t know if I had it on the day. I’m really happy it ended up the way it did. It was an amazing feeling crossing the line. There was definitely a lot of relief as well. You train really hard for a lot of races, but with those big national ones you really want to put yourself out there. When I crossed the line it was just relief – “thank God I’ve won that.”

Talk us through your race at the Bannister Miles.

Before the race, the pacer had said we’d go through 800m in around 1:58 or 1:59 and I thought he stuck to that pretty well. From where I was positioned, though, it felt a little slow. I was sitting third or fourth and came through slightly slower than I would have liked, so I thought the time might not end up being as good as I’d hoped.

About halfway through, I switched my mindset from trying to run a fast time to just trying to win. The third lap got even slower, I think it might have been a 62-second lap, and I came through the bell at around 3:02.

Jack Cavanagh tried to make a move going into the bell lap and I sat back a little with a few of the other boys. Then I thought: “I’ve got to make a move down the back straight here otherwise I can’t let Jack get away.”

I worked really hard to close the gap, swung wide into the home straight and just gave it everything I had.

Was there frustration at coming so close to a sub-four-minute mile?

Before the race I definitely had my eye on it and thought it was possible, it was maybe just a little early in the season. Then halfway through the race I thought it was going to be quite a bit slower because we’d gone through too slowly.

When I closed the way I did, I realised it was actually a much better time than I would have expected two minutes earlier. So there were mixed emotions. You’re massively happy to win and run a quick time, but being just outside four minutes is hard to take. I can’t complain too much, though. I’m definitely still happy, and it gives me more fuel to chase it for the rest of the season.

What do you put your strong start to the season down to?

I don’t think there are any secrets. It’s just a lot of hard work. Through the winter, from September to December, I was training really hard, then I picked up an injury from around January to March, which made things difficult.

I managed to get myself back into proper training mode for the track season and recover in time. The main thing is consistency. It takes a long time to run quick times and there’s a lot that goes into it. If you’re not training consistently, you can’t really expect much.

What are your goals for this summer?

The European U18 Championships are definitely the main goal. If I can get to the trials and qualify, that’s the big aim at the moment.

After that, hopefully getting into race mode for the Europeans would be really exciting. I’ve looked a little bit at the World U20 Championships as well, but I’m not too stressed about that yet. Being U18, I think it’s important to focus on the Europeans first before worrying about worlds at that age group.

Who are the athletes you look up to?

I watch quite a lot on YouTube and I really like Nick Symmonds. A lot of the races I run are based around a sit-and-kick style, and I really like his tactics of waiting and then unleashing a big finish over the last 150m. I try to model parts of my racing on that – swinging wide and trying to beat everyone to the line. Hopefully one day I can have a kick like his.

What’s the biggest thing athletics has taught you?

Probably that nothing is ever guaranteed. You can be the fastest on paper, have the best kick or whatever else, but once you’re on that start line nothing is promised.

I’ve experienced races where I thought they might be easier or assumed I should win, and then I’ve been beaten. That’s a mindset I try to stay away from now. No matter how quick your times are, once you’re on the line it’s all about beating the athletes in that race.

Age: 17

Club: Havering AC

Coach: Patrick Gahagan

Events: 800m/1500m/Mile

PBs: 1:49.36/3:40.26/4:00.88