UK Athletics Championships: Max Burgin sets sights on world podium after ‘stalling’

Whatever happens next, Max Burgin will make sure he experiences Tokyo this year.

The record-breaking 23-year-old has already booked an end-of-season holiday to explore Japan, a country he has always wanted to visit.

Ideally, though, he will do so with a World Championship medal in his possession.

Given his issues over recent years, Burgin is not taking anything for granted before this weekend’s crucial UK Athletics Championships in Birmingham.

Careful not to jinx his momentum, he is only willing to admit this is “definitely the best first half of a season I’ve had in a long time”, speaking to BBC Sport.

The signs are indeed extremely promising.

Only four men worldwide have run faster than Burgin this year, after he lowered his personal best to one minute 42.36 seconds when following the reigning Olympic and world champions over the line at the London Diamond League.

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

It was the latest indication the Halifax athlete is beginning to uncover his true potential, having smashed world, European and British records as a junior.

“I’ve had a lot of hurdles and haven’t necessarily progressed in the same way people had hoped for me back then, but I’d like to think I’m over a lot of the challenges of the past five or six years,” says Burgin.

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