9th August 2024

Burgin books place in Olympic 800m final

Max Burgin (Ian Burgin, Halifax Harriers) navigated the notoriously difficult men’s 800m semi-finals to become the first British man to make the Olympic final since London 2012.

Burgin stayed with the pace set by Emmanuel Wanyonyi of Kenya and clocked a personal best time of 1:43.50 to finish third and qualify for what promises to be a box-office final on Saturday night.

“I thought it might be hard to get to the final, I was in the call room having second thoughts with my previous times,” said Burgin. “I’m still over the moon.”

Ben Pattison (Dave Ragan, Basingstoke & Mid-Hants) looked well-positioned heading into the closing stages of the first semi-final, tracking Algerian world leader Djamel Sedjati.

But in a close finish, the world bronze medallist was run into fourth place in a time of 1:45.57 and exited the competition.


“It’s difficult, my legs didn’t feel right,” said Pattison. “I don’t know why. I made some mistakes running extra distances or covering too many moves. I’ll have to sit down with my coach and review.”

Elliot Giles (Jon Bigg, Birchfield) went out in the second semi-final as he could not find the finishing surge to take him higher than fifth place in 1:45.46.

“Tactically it wasn’t an awful race. I just lacked that final little gear,” said Giles. “But that’s just running isn’t it. I’m proud to represent Team GB.”

Meanwhile, Katarina Johnson-Thompson (Aston Moore, Liverpool Harriers) heads into the denouement of the heptathlon in silver medal position.

The reigning world champion produced her best in the final round of each of the field events, going out to 6.40m at her third attempt in the long jump.

She then registered her second and third-best ever throws in the javelin, improving 44.64m to 45.49m in the last round. It leaves Johnson-Thompson in second place on 5803 points with only the two-lap run to come.

Olympic champion Nafissatou Thiam of Belgium enjoys a 121-point lead at this stage, with a few athletes in the mix for bronze including Switzerland’s Annik Kaelin on 5694 points and Belgium’s Noor Vidts on 5689.

Jade O’Dowda (John Lane, Newham & Essex Beagles) went out to 6.33m in the long jump and threw the implement 44.05m to settle into 11th place on 5346 points.

Both the women’s and men’s 4x400m relay teams advanced from the heats, making it a full house of five GB quartets making the final.

Yemi Mary John (Alan James, Woodford Green Essex Ladies), Hannah Kelly (Les Hall, Bolton), Jodie Williams (Stuart McMillan, Herts Phoenix) and Lina Nielsen (Tony Lester, Shaftesbury Barnet) got the baton round safely to finish second in their heat, behind USA, in a time of 3:24.72.

It represented a first taste of the Olympic arena for John and Kelly, with Williams marking her third Games appearance.

“It was so much fun,” said John. “The crowd was crazy, so much energy. I’m just really hyped for us. I think we can go out there and win gold and not just a medal. I’m so excited for what we can do.”

Also second in their heat, the men’s team of Samuel Reardon (Nigel Stickings, Blackheath & Bromley), Matthew Hudson-Smith (Gary Evans, Birchfield Harriers), Toby Harries (David Sadkin, Brighton Phoenix) and Charlie Dobson (Leon Baptiste, Colchester) watched Botswana streak clear but got their job done with 2:58.88.

“It went perfectly to be honest,” said Dobson. “We knew it was going to be a tough heat, we’ve got some of the fastest teams in the world out there. But we put a strong squad out there and we’ve got even more to give in the final for sure.”

There was disappointment for Cindy Sember (Chris Johnson, Woodford Green Essex Ladies) who fell at the seventh flight of the women’s 100m hurdles and did not finish.

 

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