World No.1 in 2022 withdraws on eve of 800m heats but GB team-mates Kyle Langford and Dan Rowden progress

Max Burgin’s injury curse struck again as the talented 20-year-old did not start his 800m heat in Eugene on Wednesday (July 20) due to a calf problem.

The news will be a disappointment to British athletics fans and also middle-distance enthusiasts who were looking forward to seeing him make his World Championships debut after clocking a world leading mark of 1:43.52 in Turku last month.

He then won the British title in Manchester in 1:44.54 in windy conditions with his trademark front-running style. However it is also becoming something of a trademark for him to get injured at inopportune times and his supporters will no doubt hope that he returns for the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and European Championships in Munich next month.

In 2019 for example he ran 1:45.36 to win the England under-20 title but missed the European Under-20 Championships in Sweden – a race that saw a GB clean sweep of the medals led by Oliver Dustin.

READ MORE: Burgin hopes to create history

Then, in 2021, he ran 1:44.14 in Ostrava but did not race again all season either due to injury. But this year he has looked stronger than ever and more injury-resistant after spending much of the past couple of years doing strength and conditioning work.

In his absence the British runners Kyle Langford and Dan Rowden qualified. Langford produced a strong finish to clock 1:45.68 to finish runner-up to Peter Bol of Australia in his heat whereas Rowden was in the final heat and ensured there was a brisk pace as he led through the first lap before finishing fourth in 1:45.53.

Langford told AW he was inspired by Jake Wightman’s 1500m victory the previous night and was “tearing up” watching it.

As for Rowden, he said: “I knew exactly what time I had to do to qualify. I’m not a front runner by nature but it’s good that I was able to do that.”

Daniel Rowden says he’s not a natural front runner but kept an eye on the heat times so he’d know what he had to do.

“It helps that I did A level maths,” he adds. #Oregon22 pic.twitter.com/EOYGOmIxjd

— AW (@AthleticsWeekly) July 21, 2022