Matt Mclaughlin

Having broken David Sharpe’s 27-year-old UK indoor junior 1500m record earlier this year, Matt McLaughlin has been labelled as one of Britain’s brightest young middle-distance talents.

However, while it may seem that he has come from nowhere, the 18-year-old is quick to point out that his improvement has come about through adjusting to a training programme that he has been following for some time.

McLaughlin’s 3:42.87 for the metric mile this winter showed a glimpse of that talent, as he clipped more than three seconds off the old mark, which had stood since 1986. The teenager also won the England under-20 800m and placed second in the Southern senior championships. Those performances earned him a slot in the British Athletics Grand Prix in Birmingham.

“It has been a bit of a shock, but the summer is where it counts and it will be interesting to see what I run,” said the athlete from Woodford Green with Essex Ladies AC. “I haven’t made any changes in my training at all. I’ve just finally made the adjustment and importantly stayed injury-free. I would never have been able to get close to those times last year. It just shows that hard work pays off.”

McLaughlin credits his coach, Ayo Fayola, for tailoring his training to suit his individual needs and adds: “Many people think that by training by myself I’m not getting the best out of my ability. I couldn’t disagree more. My training is specific to me and what I need to do. I don’t need people to train with. When you get to a race you are on your own and nothing fazes me now as I’m so used to it.”

Although most of his hard training sessions take place at Lee Valley, McLaughlin enjoys going for a run on his own in the park most of all. “I always find it an amazing feeling to get my iPod ready with some banging deep house tunes, run freely and however fast I want,” he reveals.

However, his favourite training session of the winter came on the track when he ran 4x600m. He explains: “This was a 1500m-paced session and I ran them all at 3:37 pace (1:26) and the final one in 1:21, which is 1:48 800m pace. I probably liked this session because my coach was impressed and he rarely gives anything away!”

Joking aside, the youngster reveals that his training philosophy is built on working hard. He likes to have a laugh with his friends outside of training, but he adopts a serious attitude when running.