Benjamin Buckingham

As an active child, Ben Buckingham started running at the age of 10, often joining his mother on her runs. Growing up on a cattle farm, Ben left his hometown of Myrtleford in northeast Victoria when he was 18 to go to the University of Melbourne.

A breakout year in 2010 saw Ben place third in the national under-20 steeplechase and make his international debut at the World Mountain Running Championships in Slovenia, competing in the junior race.

After limited athletics activity for four years during his university studies, he started to compete more regularly in 2015. In 2016, when he was 25, there was a turning point in his career. He had finished his second degree (Juris Doctor/law and arts - history/international relations) and trained full-time for six months before starting work as a lawyer at Minter Ellison.

“This gradual transition to full-time work allowed me to establish the processes to continue to run 120-130km a week while working,” Ben said.

Immediately, the times started to tumble and by the end of the 2016-17 summer he had run 8:03 (3000m) and 8:54 (steeple) and placed third in the national championships. He plateaued in 2018 (8:04 and 8:56), but 2019 would be another major breakthrough year for Ben as he dropped to 7:54.00 (3000m) and 8:27.51 (steeple) and importantly won the Oceania Championships.

In September 2019 he travelled to Europe and smashed his steeple PB by four seconds, running 8:27.51 - the ninth-fastest ever by an Australian and faster than any of his countrymen had run for seven years. Ben also joined a new wave in the event with three under 8:34 in the year.

Selected for his senior international debut at the 2019 world championships in Doha, he finished a below-par 14th in his heat with 8:42.86, after suffering from a bug during a training camp in Spain. 
There was limited racing from Ben in 2020, but after making a late start to the 2020-21 season he set PBs at 1500m and 5000m and in his second steeplechase of the year in Brisbane he recorded a PB of 8:27.38. He placed a close second at nationals, then headed to Europe where he clocked two 8:24s with a best of 8:24.39 to move to the sixth-fastest Australian all-time.

Although still just outside the 8:22 Olympic standard, Ben qualified through the World Athletics Rankings.

Not much more could be asked of Ben in Tokyo as the lawyer turned runner punched in a career-best performance in his heat of the 3000m steeplechase – only to be disqualified shortly after the event for a lane infringement. Fortunately, he was reinstated as the seventh-place finisher in his heat, being rightfully accredited his shiny new 8:20.95 personal best – the fourth-fastest time in Australian history.

Hampered over the summer of 2021-22 with a femur stress reaction, Ben missed nationals. A knee injury followed, but in June he bounced back to his best form, setting a PB of 8:19.79 in Europe and booking a place in the team for the world championships in Eugene, Oregon, and the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. At his second world championships, Ben placed ninth in his heat in a good championship time of 8:29.15, then two weeks later was fifth at the Commonwealth Games.

In 2023 he won his first national title, but injury hampered him in Europe and he didn’t qualify for the world championships. Ben was troubled from September 2023 with osteitis pubis symptoms and when he tried to return to running ended up with bone stress issues. He opened his 2024 season in late March, finishing second in the steeplechase at nationals in a time of 8:43. In June 2024, he placed second at the Oceania Championships (8:44), but two weeks later he clocked a brilliant 8:21.34, his fastest time for two years.