Irish athletes Paul Robinson, Mark Englsh and Laura Crowe in European races this weekend

On Friday evening the 6th of September, Paul Robinson finished 3rd in the mens 'B' 800m race at the Diamond League meeting in Brussels, Belgium. His time of 1:46.06 was only 0.2 seconds his personal best.

800m B race in Brussels
1 JOHNSON Brandon USA 1:45.45
2 CRONJE Johan RSA 1:45.85
3 ROBINSON Paul IRL 1:46.06
4 RIMMER Michael GBR 1:46.19
5 MANZANO Leonel USA 1:46.31
6 JAMAA Samir MAR 1:46.70
7 BENEDETTI Giordano ITA 1:48.15
8 VAN DEN BROECK Jan BEL 1:49.43
9 BALHAN Pierre BEL 1:50.30

On Sunday the 8th of September at the IAAF Challenge in Rieti, Italy, both Paul Robinson and Mark English were in action. In the mens 800m race, Mark English finished 4th in an impressive time of 1:44.89, just five one-hundredths of a second slower than his personal best.

Rieti IAAF World Challenge (ITA)...07-08.09.2013 - B
800m MEN :
1.    Musaeb Abdulrahman BALLA    (QAT    )    1:43.93 PB
2.    Edwin Kiplagat MELI    (KEN)     1:44.49    SB
3.    Brandon JOHNSON    (USA)     1:44.55   
4.    Mark ENGLISH    (IRL)     1:44.89   
5.    Tamás KAZI    (HUN)     1:45.37    PB
6.    Michael RIMMER    (GBR)     1:46.09   
7.    James EICHBERGER    (MEX)     1:47.07   

In the mens 1500m race, Paul Robinson set a new personal best time of 3:35.22. This was over 2 seconds faster than his previous best of 3:37.66 which was set in Belfast last June. That is a huge jump in terms of performance which moves Paul from 16th to 6th on the Irish all time list. Just to put it in perspective, Eamonn Coghlan is now 8th on that list.

1500m MEN :
1.    Silas KIPLAGAT    (KEN)     3:30.13    SB
2.    Johan CRONJE    (RSA)     3:31.93    PB
3.    Mohamed MOUSTAOUI    (MAR    )    3:32.08    SB
4.    Nick WILLIS    (NZL)     3:32.57    SB
5.    Augustine Kiprono CHOGE    (KEN)     3:33.21    SB
6.    David TORRENCE    (USA)     3:33.23    PB
7.    Krzysztof ŻEBROWSKI    (POL)     3:35.07    PB
8.    Paul ROBINSON    (IRL)     3:35.22    PB
9.    Zane ROBERTSON    (NZL)     3:35.45    PB
10.    Jonathan Kiplimo SAWE    (KEN)     3:40.83   
11.    Abdellah HAIDANE    (ITA)     3:41.96    SB
12.    Miles BATTY    (USA)     3:45.75   
13.    Leonel MANZANO    (USA)     3:48.83    

In the womens 800m race, Laura Crowe of An Ríocht AC set a new personal best time of 2:00.93, a big jump up from her previous best time of 2:02.63 which was set in Dublin in July. This new time now moves Laura from 8th to 4th on the Irish all time list.

  
800m WOMEN :
1.    Caster SEMENYA    (RSA)     1:58.92    SB
2.    Nelly JEPKOSGEI    (KEN)     1:59.40    PB
3.    Nataliya LUPU    (UKR)     1:59.52   
4.    Hannah ENGLAND    (GBR)     2:00.39    SB
5.    Zoe BUCKMAN    (AUS)     2:00.93    PB
6.    Laura CROWE    (IRL)     2:00.93    PB
7.    Anna ROSTKOWSKA    (POL)     2:01.34    SB
8.    Renata PLIŚ    (POL)     2:01.48    SB
9.    Mary KURIA    (KEN)     2:01.90   
10.    Lea WALLACE    (USA)     2:03.13     

With the track season now coming to a close, Both Laura Crowe and Rose-Ann Galligan have both come with a second of breaking the two minute barrier. Will 2014 be the year when the first Irish woman goes sub two??