British 800m duo progress after record-breaking morning at Birmingham 2026

Great Britain hopefuls Max Burgin and Ben Pattison both booked their place in Thursday’s men’s 800 metres final at Birmingham 2026.

The pair both eased through in Wednesday morning’s semi-finals which saw Ireland’s Mark English break Olaf Beyer’s 48-year-old European Championship record at Alexander Stadium.

English won his semi-final ahead of Pattison in a time of one minute 43.49 seconds, to better a mark which had stood since 1978.

That came after Burgin had progressed by winning his heat in one minute 44.7 seconds.

The 24-year-old, who has been recovering from illness, ran a strong tactical race, only moving to the front with 200m remaining.

“I got a little push from behind, but I think it gave me a little spurt, a bit of momentum,” he said.

“It’s good to test that sort of capability because it can all come down to that in a championship.”

Pattison said: “Today was the day to get it right and I managed to do that, my legs felt really good in that race and I’m looking forward to the final.

“I think it just explains 800m running around the world, especially in Europe, it’s just levels above where it used to be.

“My heat the other day was harder than my final in 2022. It’s great being part of it because everyone is raising the bar, so you either have to go with it or get left behind.”

Elsewhere, there was disappointment for Midlands star Jake Minshull, who failed to progress after finishing fifth in his 400m hurdles semi-final.

The 21-year-old from Coventry won silver at last month’s Commonwealth Games but was always going to be up against it in a far stronger European field.

“It was tough,” he said. “I know coming into this race it was going to be like a final, so I was going to have to give it my all.

“But unfortunately, I just didn’t have that today. I would have had to run a PB to make it through to the final. I knew I could have done that, but it just wasn’t there today.”