Burgin and Caudery dispel their demons as they target global medals

It is a measure of just how stricken Max Burgin has all too frequently been that this was the first time in three years he had managed to race at all before a UK Championships.

Burgin was a child phenomenon: a teenager who broke world, European and British age-group records, swatting aside such luminaries as Seb Coe and Steve Ovett in the process. The sport lay at his feet, until various parts of his body struggled to keep pace with his precocious athletic prowess. Now 23, his emergence feels like a long time coming. The next big thing who once was, then perhaps was not and now might well be, poised to deliver on his abundant talent at next month’s World Championships. But first, the mundanities of securing a seat on the plane.

The UK Championships are often a curious proposition, with medical exemptions and guaranteed team places for global medallists ensuring the sport’s headline acts are either absent or here at Birmingham’s Alexander Stadium in an alternative capacity. None of the five British athletes who stood on last year’s Olympic podium – Keely Hodgkinson, Georgia Hunter Bell, Matthew Hudson-Smith, Josh Kerr and Katarina Johnson-Thompson – is contesting their primary events this weekend.

Instead, it is the likes of Burgin, Molly Caudery, Amber Anning and Charlie Dobson who are invited to thrive on centre stage. Only four men globally have run 800 metres quicker than Burgin this summer and just five completed 400m faster than Dobson. Just one woman has vaulted higher than Caudery all year. Anning ­finished fifth over 400m at last year’s Olympics before winning the world indoor title this March. The next generation? In six weeks’ time, at the Tokyo World Championships, they might well join the current.

It had appeared predetermined for Burgin. Coached by his father Ian, he did what no other had done at such a young age over 800m. Then came the problems. Hamstring and groin injuries that caused him to miss the Tokyo Olympics, deep vein thrombosis which ruled him out of the 2022 World Championships at the last minute, a nerve issue that affected his Achilles the following year.

Last summer he became the first British man to reach the Olympic 800m final since London 2012 despite further physical ailments meaning he could not compete until five weeks before. Thankfully, the injury clouds appear to have belatedly parted, allowing him “the smoothest season of my career”. The result has been consistent Diamond League top-three finishes against the world’s leading middle-distance runners and a personal best of one minute 42.36 seconds that puts him within sight of Coe’s 44-year-old British senior record. It was no surprise to see him barely break sweat when qualifying for today’s 800m final in the fastest time of the heats.

“It’s a long time ago now since the last time I strung together lots of races without major injuries,” he told The Observer. “I was very frustrated the first few years thinking maybe my body just isn’t strong enough for running. But the longer I stuck at it, and the more I got results despite injuries, the more I was happy to keep plugging away and hope one of these days I’d get a clear run. That seems to be happening now.

“If I get there [the World Championships], I need to have one eye on winning something, especially after the season I’ve had. I need to believe in myself a bit and target that kind of performance.”

Caudery has had similarly high expectations previously. A huge improvement in the space of a few months saw her claim the world indoor title at the start of a 2024 that many believed would culminate in an Olympic medal, potentially gold. When she then crashed out in Paris, having failed to record a single valid attempt, she admitted the grieving process took weeks to recover from.

Such an outlier in a modest British pole vault field that she wrapped up the title with just her second jump, Caudery went on to clear a world outdoor best this summer of 4.85m before tapping out victorious.

“I’ve overcome all the demons,” she said. “It’s all in the past. I would love to get a [world] medal. After what happened last year, I was so focused on getting a medal, I just need to get through qualification first and then think about it. But that’s definitely the big goal for the year.”

In the absence of Olympic silver medallist Hudson-Smith – who was given a compassionate exemption to compete as his wife is due to give birth – Britain’s fellow 400m hopefuls Anning, 24, and Dobson, 25, made suitably light work of winning their heats and advancing to today’s finals. World indoor champion Anning’s ­triumph came in 51.83sec, with Dobson claiming his in 46.14sec. Both have plenty more to give.

Photograph by Alex Livesey/Getty