Last weekend, Ciara Mageean won a Bronze medal in the 1500m at the European Athletics Championship in Amsterdam. After having surgery to her foot back in 2013, she has made the long journey back to become one of the best Irish athletes on the track at present.
Jerry Kiernan who is long associated with being a athletics pundit on RTE TV is also Ciara Mageean's coach. He has been instrumental in guiding her from that surgery in 2013 to European medal winner in 2016.
Cathal Dennehy writing for that Irish Examiner caught up with Jerry Kiernan since Sunday and the interview is well worth of read. Click HERE
In the interview, Jerry mentioned that he had three targets this year for Ciara...
This summer, Kiernan had three targets in mind. “Number one, a European medal, number two, an Olympic final, and number three, a two-minute 800,” he says. “That’s one of the boxes ticked.”
In terms of the third target, no Irish woman has ever broken two minutes for 800m and it remains a bit like a Holy Grail for female Irish middle distance athletes. These are the Irish women that have broken 2:02.
2:00.58 Rose-Anne Galligan London 26 Jul 2013
2:00.69 Sonia O'Sullivan Sankt Peterburg 28 Jul 1994
2:00.70 Caroline O'Shea Cork 3 Jul 1984
2:00.93 Laura Crowe Rieti 8 Sep 2013
2:01.14 Aisling Molloy Split 27 Aug 1990
2:01.21 Ciara Everard Oordegem 23 May 2015
2:01.89 Aoife Byrne Namur 17 Aug 2001
2:01.98 Siofra Cleirigh-Buttner Solihull 9 Jul 2016
Although the 1500m is Ciara Mageean's main event, it would seem as if a sub 2 minute 800m might certainly be on the cards in the near future.
Another athlete is watch out for is the up and coming Siofra Cleirigh-Buttner who is nearly 21 years old. Last weekend, she ran a 2:01.98 800m in England. If she continues to improve, she might well join Ciara Mageean as a serious contender for some European Championship medals.
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