The 20-year-old opens up about why his cross country background fills him with a quiet confidence on the track

Will Barnicoat believes that he has a free hit in the 5000m this season.

The British runner, who has made waves over the cross country circuit in domestic and international championships, is confident that he can significantly lower his 5000m personal best of 13:45.24, which earned him European under-23 bronze over the distance last summer.

Although Barnicoat believes that the Olympic qualifying standard of 13:05.00 is probably too much of a jump in a single season, hes not ruling out nailing the European mark of 13:20.00.

Barnicoat has a cross country background and grew up training on the grass. Its no surprise he has claimed European Cross individual and team golds at both U20 and U23 level. On both occasions in Piemonte and Brussels, he showed immense mental and physical strength.

Fellow athletes have raved about Barnicoats potential in the sport and you can understand why so far.

Barnicoat, who also studies engineering at the University of Birmingham, will test himself out over 5km at this weekends SportsShoes.com Podium Festival (March 16). After debuting in the 5000m last season, it will be a good opportunity for the 20-year-old to see how much progress he has made over the winter months, ahead of the track season.

AW chats exclusively to Barnicoat below:

Last season you claimed European Cross under-23 individual and team gold medals and an under-23 5000m bronze on the track. How do you reflect on 2023, looking ahead to the summer of 2024?

Last year I debuted over 5000m and ended it with a pretty good personal best of 13:45.24 the time that I managed to get a [U23 5000m] bronze medal with in Espoo.

This season I want to get my 5000m time down to roughly between 13:20 and 13:30 and also get my 1500m time to between 3:36 and 3:37. Doing this 5km at the SportsShoes.com Podium Festival will be a big stepping stone into the summer.

Where are you at with the 5000m right now? Is that the distance you now want to focus on? 

Well, were in an Olympic year and the qualifying standard for that is 13:05.00, which I dont think is in my grasp just yet. So Ive just basically got a free hit at the 5000m. I also kind of want to take, at this point in my career, the 1500m as seriously as the 5000m. But as I get older, I will probably shift more to the 5000m.

I do have a little look on the Sweat Elite YouTube videos and stuff and see what people are doing. I think what George Mills is doing is really impressive, especially coming from a 1500m background and now running sub-13-minute 5kms. Theres a variety of different trainings you can do to get these times.

Whats a normal weeks training like for you generally? 

So Monday is like a straight tempo run. Tuesday is an easy double, which Ive started to do since Christmas.

Wednesday is a session, Thursday I have my long run and then Friday I rest. Saturday is another session and Sundays just a double as well. I tested my VO2 max recently and it was around 76/77/78. Ive heard higher with guys getting in the 80s but its decent.

I prefer running to feel but I guess the only data I really run to is sort of knowing where my tempo zones are and that sort of stuff. If I need to go into specific track sessions, my coach will just give me a few lap splits I need to hit. If he sets something and I hit them, Im kind of confident in the fact that he knows he set me something that he knows I need to complete. Tim Eglin is my home coach and back up in Birmingham Im managed by Dean Miller.

Where are you with cross country and track right now?

I always do grass sessions throughout the year. Its just like, in the track season, all my tempo runs would be on tarmac or a loop around the park for example. My sessions in the summer are nearly always on the track but sometimes Ill still have a few on the grass.

Everyones different but I definitely like training on the grass in the winter as it just builds a huge amount of strength. I generally come from a cross country background anyway and I never initially trained on a track, it was just grass training. So that gives me a base of confidence and strength and when I add a bit of speed on top of that, I can really get going on the track. Thats kind of just my philosophy around it.

How do you look back on winning European individual cross country titles at U20 and then U23 level in 2022 and 2023 respectively? 

Maybe I did get a bit lucky in 2022 [Nick Griggs falling in the last 50m]! But who knows? I would definitely put a lot of it down to strength and a little bit of speed. I think when youre in that moment its also quite a lot mental. In Brussels [holding off Valentin Bresc down the final straight], it was just knowing you can just hold on. When someones behind you, its actually a lot harder for people to actually come up to your level and overtake you. If he did come up to my shoulder you have to make sure you just go again and go again.

Do you have a specific style that youre regimented to each race? Or is it looking at each individual races?

Not really, a lot of the time you are just racing the same people over and over again but I guess on the international stage, if its a championships race, its also about knowing your competition. Typically now Ill sit in a bit more and just use my strength over maybe the last quarter of the race. If I need to burst in the last 50m, I can. I dont really like to take it out too hard, especially if I know that Im not the best on paper.

How did you kind of get into the sport in the first place and what were the big inspirations?

Its actually quite hard to say! My mum used to do a lot of athletics when she was younger but nothing like the UK scene, she just did a bit of running.

At secondary school I won a couple of cross country races and found out that I was quite good. I always wanted to join a club. At first, my parents told me that I couldnt but after I won a few races they were like yeah, okay!

How was signing for Puma and the journey with them?

That was a massive change in my life and it was like the start of a new chapter. I now have the money to go on camps and do those sort of things. It also means I can just invest in myself a lot more and get a lot more out of myself. Things like diet and training changes. I needed it at that sort of stage of my life, just to move me on a little bit more in regards to the professionalism that was sort of missing at that point.

Im very into the little one percents and I think its just those aspects which are so much easier said than done. A lot of people say they do those kind of things [sleeping, eating, recovery] but then when you really look into it, do they actually do them?

The things that have really changed since I signed with Puma are things like, if I need nap, Ill nap. Before, I used to drag it out. My warm-ups have changed and Ill do them for longer. Im doing more drills. I also get these free nutrition packs from OTE Sports. So Ill have a protein shake immediately after a gym or running session as well. Thats changed my perception when it comes down to recovery.

What are the big goals and definition of success in 2024?

Id absolutely love to make the Great Britain European 5000m team. The qualifying standard for that I believe is 13:20.00, which is a bit easier than the Olympics. Thats a bit more attainable. I think that theres a race in Belgium just before that. So hopefully, if I have an absolute blinder out there, I can maybe, maybe pull it off.

What do you make of the SportsShoes.com Podium Festival this weekend?

I think this event will be really good as it goes beyond athletics and has like, you know, things like drinking where there is a focus on spectators. You look at the darts, they talk about spectator engagement and thats what athletics needs a bit of fun which helps to bring loads of investment into it. Ive also seen theres a lot more investment being poured into the sport, when you see stuff like Michael Johnsons new initiative.

I think people know the potential of the sport and the recognition it properly deserves. I dont think were too far off it to be honest. I think its gaining a lot of popularity, especially when it was almost like an arms race with the different shoe brands. Once you open up to it, you can see whats there in front of you.

Im super excited to race this weekend and it will probably be the most stacked field Ive ever raced in. Ive seen the hype with the head-to-head graphics and stuff like that and I think thats really good. Its just about generating a bit of talk.