How they train: Ben Pattison
The world and Commonwealth 800m medallist talks to Katy Barden about putting the big lessons he learned from 2025 into practice as he takes aim at his big summer targets
Age: 24; Coach: Dave Ragan
Outcome-orientated but heavily determined by tactics and process, the 800m is a fascinating track conundrum that can provide bitter-sweet results.
“I don’t think I could have run that much worse but to come away with my second-quickest ever time…it’s tough to be annoyed,” said a bemused Ben Pattison after his 1:43.70 at the Diamond League meeting in Stockholm last month. “I said to my coach after that it was a really bad process, but a great outcome, so I can live with it.”
Pattison – whose personal best of 1:42.27 (run in Monaco, 2024) ranks him second-fastest on the UK all-time list – has enjoyed a smooth transition from a “healthy” winter, through an indoor season – his first in five years – that included winning a national 800m title and reaching the semi-finals of the World Indoor Championships, to a summer bursting with opportunities.
It’s the perfect position to be in after a challenging 2025 that saw him return from an early-year stress fracture to making the British team against the odds for a World Championships in Tokyo that arguably came around too soon.
“I'd say one of the main lessons I learned is just to be very patient with training and racing, and to understand that just because it's not going well in a certain session doesn't mean you're in bad shape,” says the world and Commonwealth 800m bronze medallist who had heart surgery in 2020 for Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, a condition which caused his heart to beat up to 250 beats per minute in training.
“I had to learn that the hard way last year. I was a bit frustrated with how 2024 ended up so I probably went into that winter a bit annoyed, and an annoyed athlete is probably not making the smartest of choices. I worked very hard, I got myself in very good shape, but it was probably a bit too early for me to do that [and potentially led to injury in early 2025]. So I think this winter we’ve learned to chill out a bit and we've almost just gone: ‘Okay, let's get to summer 100 per cent healthy’ rather than being in 100 per cent shape and 80 per cent healthy, because I don't think that's sustainable throughout the season. I feel like that's really, really benefited me.”
This year, so far, feels different. The ability to run fast is there – Stockholm was evidence of that – but there is certainly work still to be done to ensure the process and tactical execution match Pattison’s capabilities and merit success in an event that is gathering pace.
The 800m is bursting with talent, that’s for sure. As Pattison points out, it wasn’t so long ago Diamond League 800m races could be won in 1:42 or 1:43. Today, you have to run those times just to get into the race. “It’s a brutal event to be in at the moment but that's what makes it so exciting,” he says. “I think the fact that you have to be so good just to get in the conversation has really pushed everyone on.
“I feel like I’ve still got so much to learn and, with the Commonwealths, Europeans and possibly the Ultimate Champs this year, I just want to try and race as much as possible. I want to take every opportunity to learn my race craft and learn how to get the best out of myself. I’m looking for a good process and a good outcome – if I can manage that, my coach will be very happy with me!”
A typical training week (training camp in Turkey, April 2026)
Pattison is based in Loughborough and is coached by Dave Ragan, his long-term club coach at Basingstoke & Mid Hants. Chris and Sonia McGeorge (who coach former European and Commonwealth 1500m finalist Matt Stonier in Loughborough) help out with splits and feedback “on the ground” and Pattison jumps in with their training group at times. “It's a really good set-up,” he says. “It's very chilled and it's what works for me, so I really enjoy it.”
In addition to the inclusion of more specific speed work this year (“I feel like I've relied too much previously on my natural speed,” he says), Pattison has also increased the volume of his cross training – doing up to 75-minute sessions on the elliptical over the winter – and has cut down his Sunday runs: “I don’t go longer than an hour (compared to 70-90 minutes through previous winters),” he says. I was like: ‘I'm running two laps of the track, do I really need to be running longer than an hour?’”
His Monday gym sessions are focused on lighter weights and more explosive work including jumps and plyos, whereas Wednesday’s sessions are slightly heavier, including Olympic lifts.
Favourite session: “1000m-700m-600m-400m-300m off eight minutes. It’s probably the most pain I've ever been in during a session but you get a lot out of it. It's very much a mental battle. The 700m and the 600m are probably the two hardest reps to get your legs going again. It's that awkward pace of not going flat out but not feeling comfortable, either. It's a very fun session.”
Least favourite session: “Something on the opposite end of the spectrum like 3 x 250m off eight minutes. I think because I'm someone who does have quite natural speed – I used to be a sprinter – I can hit those sessions very hard and they can write me off for a week. I've done it a bit more this year to get used to it but if I go too quickly the next few days of training are pretty tough.”
