Cambridge & Coleridge Athletic Club’s Tom Keen eyeing up World Athletics Championships after setting new 1,500m personal best in Boston

Tom Keen has made an eye-catching start to what he hopes will be a memorable year.

With a winter’s worth of preparation and a useful training camp in South Africa under his belt, the Cambridge & Coleridge Athletic Club runner headed to the well renowned New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in Boston, USA, earlier this month in confident mood.

And his pre-race expectations were duly vindicated when Keen set a 1,500m personal best of 3:35.12 – a time that also gave him the then European lead, as well as being a new Cambridge & Coleridge record.

“I had a really good winter and a good couple of weeks training in the warm weather in South Africa,” said the 23-year-old.

“The outdoor season has been pushed back a little bit this year and so it means I’ve been able to focus a bit more on the indoor and it’s paying off. After all of that training, going to Boston I felt like I was in personal best shape and it was great to see that come out.

“It’s been a gradual build up and now I’m looking to bring that down to 3:34 – I feel like I’m in the right shape to do it.”

Keen’s next opportunity to break the 3:34 barrier will come tomorrow (Thursday) when he races in France.

But looking further ahead, the former Linton Village College student is looking to force his way into the conversation for Team GB places when the World Athletics Championships roll around in September.

Keen is well aware of the size of that particular challenge, yet he believes that he is in the right frame of mind to tackle it head on.

“If you’re not in the right shape physically then it’s never going to happen for you,” added Keen.

“But I’ve also been in a position where I’ve felt in great shape to set a good time or place well and it hasn’t happened for a number of reasons.

“Your mental preparation has to be right – both in terms of self belief and what you do tactically.

“I’ve always had belief in myself but it felt like things changed last year mentally.

“That was when I really started to believe I could lead races and be there towards the end as well.

“I’m competing against some of the best runners in the world. These are guys that I’ve watched in Diamond League meetings and World Championships over the last four or five years, so it’s a real confidence boost to know that I can be competitive against them. I now feel like there isn’t a race that I shouldn’t feel comfortable running in.”

Meanwhile, Cambridge & Coleridge’s current strength in depth over 1,500m has been further highlighted by the recent performances of Thomas Bridger and Alex Melloy.

Bridger’s personal best performance of 3:40:25 – set in Reykjavik, Iceland, last month – sees him lead the British Under-23 list for 2025, while club-mate Melloy is second after he stopped the clock in 3:41:69 in Erfurt, Germany.

Closer to home, the club’s Deshawn Lascelles leapt to gold in the triple jump at the South of England Indoor Under-20/Senior Championships.

Lascelles produced a personal best jump of 15.22m to leave him placed first in the Under-23 rankings and seventh across all age groups.