{"id":1040010003,"date":"2026-02-21T16:40:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T16:40:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/athleticsweekly.com\/?p=1040010003"},"modified":"2026-02-25T13:48:02","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T13:48:02","slug":"a-lap-with-joe-wigfield","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/athleticsweekly.com\/news\/a-lap-with-joe-wigfield-1040010003\/","title":{"rendered":"A lap with ... Joe Wigfield"},"content":{"rendered":"

We speak to the man who equalled the British 10km record in Valencia about fresh challenges.<\/span><\/p>\n

Joe Wigfield\u2019s original aim at the Valencia 10km in January was to break the 28-minute barrier. Even though he had only competed in one official 10km race before \u2013 running 28:44 at the 2023 edition \u2013 the 26-year-old thought that he could be amongst the top Brits in the field, but expected a couple would still be quicker than him.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I saw that the likes of Scott [Beattie] and Alfie [Manthorpe] were in the race, I knew they had the experience,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Wigfield, who started on the sub-elite start line, found himself alongside both when the packs converged and, for most of the race, decided to run alongside the British duo, with the aim of being \u201cdragged around\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

\n
\n\n
<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n

After passing 5km through 13:54, he knew he was on for a quick time but was still keen to preserve some energy for the last 800m. Holding that kick work and, after passing the likes of Beattie, Manthorpe and Andy Butchart down the home straight, Wigfield crossed the line in an official time of 27:38. He placed 11th overall but also equalled Rory Leonard\u2019s 10km national record.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t expecting to get that time,\u201d Wigfield tells AW. \u201cNow that I\u2019ve got such a performance behind me, I\u2019ve got so much more confidence in believing I\u2019ll be able to hit certain splits in training.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Joe Wigfield (Graham Smith)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He has now set his sights on the Barcelona Half Marathon (February 15) and is aiming to run around 61:00, a mark that would catapult him into the top 10 on the UK half-marathon all-time standings.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It would build on the momentum he generated by winning the Westminster Mile (3:59), Manchester Half Marathon (62:04) and <\/span>FNUL Mizuno New Year\u2019s Eve 5km (13:26) in the latter half of last year.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

\n
\n\n
<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n

He still views the 1500m as his favourite event but, with recent successes in the longer distances, is now looking at those much more closely this season.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI love doing shorter races like the 800m and 1500m,\u201d he says. \u201cI knew I was in shape and that I could run these certain times but reality starts setting in when you\u2019re not at the front. Towards the end of the summer I was starting to lose my head a bit with track so that\u2019s why I focused so much on road running in the autumn.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cRight now I feel like I\u2019m probably better in events like the 5km, 10km and half-marathon. I\u2019ll probably do a few 800m races at British Milers Club meetings for example but they will essentially be speed work sessions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Joe Wigfield (Richard Craig-McFeely)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cOne of the main aims for this season is to race in the half-marathon at the World Athletics Road Running Championships in Copenhagen in September. So I\u2019ll be competing at the Bath Half Marathon (March 15) in order to qualify for it.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

\n
\n\n
<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n

Wigfield runs around 75-80 miles per week and is coached by 1996 Olympian Craig Winrow at St Mary\u2019s University. Having grown up training at Wirral AC, Wigfield made the move to Teddington in 2018 to study Health and Exercise Science. After graduating, he decided to stay and says it\u2019s one of the best moves he\u2019s ever made.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s around 80 students but you\u2019ve also got the likes of Jack Rowe and Adam Clarke who train there as well,\u201d Wigfield says. \u201cIt means you\u2019ve got a mix of coaches and it\u2019s great because they\u2019re happy for us to crack on together in sessions on occasions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Joe Wigfield (LME)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI was actually only really interested in athletics when I went to the university. Just before moving to London I thought about quitting running. When I was 16 and 17, I went through that phase of going out a lot and enjoying life, so I lost my love for running.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI then spoke to [fellow athlete] Dan Jarvis and he said the set-up at St. Mary\u2019s would give me a second chance in the sport. If I\u2019d gone anywhere else I don\u2019t know if they\u2019d have helped me out in the same way.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If you could choose one person to train\/compete with, past or present, who would it be and why?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Usain Bolt. It\u2019s very different but training with him would have been fun. He\u2019d have definitely helped me out on some of my speed sessions, without a doubt!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We speak to the man who equalled the British 10km record in Valencia about fresh challenges. Joe Wigfield\u2019s original aim […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":579563,"featured_media":1040010044,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":"","inline_featured_image":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_championship":0,"wds_primary_country":0,"wds_primary_sports":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,12],"tags":[],"championship":[],"country":[],"sports":[36035],"class_list":["post-1040010003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interviews","category-news","sports-road-events"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/athleticsweekly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1040010003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/athleticsweekly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/athleticsweekly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/athleticsweekly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/579563"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/athleticsweekly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1040010003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/athleticsweekly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1040010003\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/athleticsweekly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1040010044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/athleticsweekly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1040010003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/athleticsweekly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1040010003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/athleticsweekly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1040010003"},{"taxonomy":"championship","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/athleticsweekly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/championship?post=1040010003"},{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/athleticsweekly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=1040010003"},{"taxonomy":"sports","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/athleticsweekly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sports?post=1040010003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}