Coe's record under threat as Burgin targets world podium

Max Burgin made his first final at a senior global championships at Paris 2024

Regardless of what might have unfolded, Max Burgin was always going to make sure he experienced Tokyo this month.

The record-breaking 23-year-old had booked an end-of-season holiday to explore Japan, a country he has always wanted to visit, before securing his place on the British team at the World Championships.

Given his issues over recent years, Burgin - who will contest the men's 800m final at Japan's National Stadium on Saturday (14:22 BST) - does not take anything for granted.

But it is a strong indication that everything is beginning to fall into place for Great Britain's exciting middle-distance talent - and the signs have been extremely promising.

Capitalising on a rare period of consistency, Burgin lowered his personal best to one minute 42.36 seconds at the London Diamond League in July.

That time, within 1.5 seconds of David Rudisha's 2012 world record, made him the third-fastest British man in history.

At last able to begin uncovering his true potential, having smashed world, European and British records as a junior, the Halifax athlete now intends to enjoy his post-competition travels with a global 800m medal in his possession.

"I've had a lot of hurdles and haven't necessarily progressed in the same way people had hoped for me back then," Burgin tells BBC Sport.

"But I'd like to think I'm over a lot of the challenges of the past five or six years.

"Finally, I am getting back to the trajectory that I was showing when I was younger and breaking all these records."

Comparisons were drawn to British middle-distance greats Sebastian Coe and Steve Cram as Burgin broke through - doing so at the same time as Olympic 800m champion Keely Hodgkinson.

Their careers have taken rather different paths since, with a combination of injuries and bad luck leading Burgin to fear his early promise was "slipping away".

"There were a lot of parallels in our development," he adds. "Obviously her career has absolutely taken off and maybe mine has stalled a little bit.

"But, looking at what she's achieved and knowing that I have that same sort of ceiling, that definitely gives me confidence.
Knowing that, one day, I'll be able to get up there."

Burgin and his father Ian, also his coach, have grown accustomed to setting short-term goals.

The two-time British champion lost 12 months, and missed the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, with hamstring and groin injuries.

A calf issue - later diagnosed as deep vein thrombosis - then denied 2022's fastest man the chance to compete for a world medal.

But he eventually debuted on the global stage in Budapest two years ago, despite struggling with a nerve issue affecting his Achilles, and last summer became the first British man to reach the Olympic 800m final since the 2012 Games in London.

Known for his all-out racing style, Max Burgin fell over the line in a dramatic finish at the UK Athletics Championships in 2023

Through to another major final, Burgin has made no secret of his medal ambitions.

Achieving that will be no easy feat, amid expectations the current generation will soon surpass Kenyan Rudisha's once seemingly untouchable mark of 1:40.91.

But Burgin, renowned for his fearless racing style, will line up with the fourth-fastest season's best time among the eight world finalists.

He will take further confidence from going toe-to-toe with the event's best throughout this season, including splitting Olympic gold medallist Emmanuel Wanyonyi and reigning world champion Marco Arop with second at the Diamond League final.

Lord Coe's British record of 1:41.73 has stood since 1981, but it is a time which Burgin and Ben Pattison - the first British man to win a world 800m medal since 1987 two years ago but out in the semi-finals here - are rapidly closing in on.

Having already removed more than a second from his personal best this year, that is a mark now firmly on Burgin's radar as he strives for the global medals his talent has long promised.

Not least because he accepts that is the level of performance which will likely be required to be in the hunt.

"It feels achievable at the moment," Burgin says on Coe's time.

"0.6 seconds is a lot when you're getting down to these faster times, but it's not impossible.

"It's very likely that, if you want to challenge for a world medal, you'll need to be running a British record with the way the times are going."