Ciara Mageean & Mark English win Bronze medals at Euro Indoor Championships

Two of Ireland's best athletes won Bronze medals at the European Indoor Athletic Championships in Glasgow.

Ciara Mageean finished 3rd in the women's 1500m final.

Bronze on the double for Ireland as Ciara Mageean comes third in the 1500 metres at the European Indoor Athletic Championships #RTEsport pic.twitter.com/GUrumcoXzH

— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) March 3, 2019

Mark English finished 3rd in the men's 800m final.

It is a bronze medal for Mark English in the 800 metres at the European Indoor Championships #RTEsport pic.twitter.com/soHvuBGwSp

— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) March 3, 2019

Mark English finishes 2nd to David Rudisha in 500m race in Newcastle

In the build up to the Great North Run in Newcastle, the Great North City Games are held on the streets of the city.

In the mens 500m race, Irish intertational athlete Mark English finished in second place to David Rudisha, the 800m Olympic Champion.

See the video below...Mark is in black

Irish results from World Championships...Sat 22nd & Sun 23rd Aug 2015

Sun 23rd Aug 2015
In the 400m hurdles, Thomas Barr from Waterford was in action in the first of three semi-finals. His time of 48.71 wasn't fast enough to make the final. The slowest qualification time was 48.46 seconds.
POS    ATHLETE    COUNTRY    MARK      
1    Boniface Mucheru TUMUTI    KEN KEN    48.29 Q
2    Kerron CLEMENT    USA USA        48.50 Q  
3    Timofey CHALYY    RUS RUS        48.69
4    Thomas BARR    IRL IRL            48.71  
5    Rasmus MÄGI    EST EST            48.76  
6    Abdelmalik LAHOULOU    ALG ALG        48.87
7    Annsert WHYTE    JAM JAM        48.90
8    Michaël BULTHEEL    BEL BEL        49.66

Race video...Thomas is in lane 9


Post race interview....


In the mens 800m, Mark English from Donegal finished 5th in the 3rd semi-final of the mens 800m. The slowest of the times to qualify was 1:45:02.

POS    ATHLETE    COUNTRY    MARK  
1    Amel TUKA            BIH BIH    1:44.84 Q  
2    Ferguson Cheruiyot ROTICH    KEN KEN    1:44.85 Q  
3    Nader BELHANBEL    MAR MAR    1:45.28 q  
4    Marcin LEWANDOWSKI    POL POL    1:45.34  
5    Mark ENGLISH            IRL IRL    1:45.55  
6    Rafith RODRÍGUEZ    COL COL    1:45.63  
7    Erik SOWINSKI        USA USA    1:47.16  
8    Jena UMAR            ETH ETH    1:48.68

Race video...

Post race interview with Mark English...


In the mens 20k walk, Alex Wright was unfortunately disqualified.

***************

Sat 22nd Aug 2015
In the fourth heat of the mens 400m hurdles, Thomas Barr finished in 3rd place to secure a spot in the semi-finals. With 100m to go, it looked as if he was out of it but he put in his trademark finishing kick to get into third.

Thomas is out in lane 8...




Post race interview with Thomas...




Mark English from Donegal was in action in the heats of the 800m on the first day of the IAAF World Championships in Beijing. In the third heat, Mark finished 5th and his time was just fast enough to go through to the semi-finals as one of the fastest runners up.

Race video....


Post race interview...

Mark English wins Silver at the European Indoor Championships in Prague

At the final day of the European Indoor Championships in Prague, Mark English from Donegal finished second in the final of the 800m to take Silver.

This was Mark's second major medal having won Bronze in the 800m at the European Championships in Zurich in 2014.

The race video is available on the RTE Player service ...pull the slider forward to 25:00 mins.

Post race interview...

Photo Credit : James Veale of West Waterford AC

Irish team finish 2nd in relay race at US Armory in New York

A very strong Irish team finished an impressive second last night in the Men's Distance Medley Relay  race at the Armory Track in New York. The Irish team for the 4 legs in order were.....1200m Declan Murray.....400m Brian Gregan......800m Mark English....1600m Ciarán Ó Lionáird.

Some excellent performances with a second place finish which was inside the old world record.

The race video is excellent. You can see it HERE

Armory Track Invitaitonal 2015
Place    Team    Time                       
1 United States of America
M Centrowitz (2:49.47), M Berry (46.40), E Sowinski (1:47.60), P Casey (3:56.48)    9:19.93
2    Ireland
D Murray (2:53.17), B Gregan (47.40), M English (1:46.59), C O'Lionaird (3:58.23)    9:25.37
3    NJ-NY TC
M Rutt (2:52.62), S Lumax (47.75), B Scheetz (1:48.61), K Merber (3:58.20)    9:27.16
4    Kenya
J Mutai (2:54.33), C Nkanata (48.87), A Kipketer (1:51.69), L Lalang (3:52.33)    9:27.21
5    Columbia
B Fish (2:53.43), C Hammond (48.92), C Claflin (1:50.29), S Haik (4:02.39)    9:35.02
6    Duke
N McClafferty (2:52.05), C Hawkins (48.88), J Burton (1:51.91), B Schoepfer (4:03.63)    9:36.47
7    Mississippi
C Engels (2:55.60), D Morgan (47.72), H Sherrer (1:51.66), R Domanic (4:05.54)    9:40.51
8    Princeton
L Brahm (2:54.99), R Mennin (48.93), N Kauppila (1:53.00), B Paternostro (4:04.67)    9:41.58

Post race interview when Cathal Dennehy of the Jumping the Gun crew caught up with the Irish team...

       

Mark English of Ireland wins European Bronze in Zurich

At the European Athletic Championships in Zurich this evening, Mark English from Donegal finished 3rd in the mens 800m final to take a bronze medal. It really was a magnificent performance from the 21 year old.

Here is the race video....


Here is a post race interview with Mark English from Will Downing...


What a great talent......and still only 21 years old.

Photo from James Veale of West Waterford AC

Athletics roundup...Morton Games plus more...

Following on from another successful Cork City Sports last week, the next big athletics event in Ireland was the Morton Games in Santry, Dublin on Fri 11th of July.

The highlights are shown in the video below.
Here are the events as shown...
1:20...Mens 400m hurdles...Thomas Barr of Ferrybank AC put in another fantastic performance to win the race in a time of 48.94 seconds. This was a new stadium record and was just four one-hundredths of a second slower than his national record which he set in June this year in Geneva.
5:50...Mens Junior Mile
8:50...Highlights of several races
9:50...Mens 800m race
12:10...Mens 100m B race
13:00...Womens 100m
15:10...Mens 100m A race
16:17...Mens 400m
20:00...Womens 800m
23:30...International Mens 800m...Mark English won in a new stadium record of 1:45.30.
28:10...Womens discus
28:40...Mens pole vault
29:45...Mens 3000m
33:30...Mens 200m
35:00...Womens mile
40:45...Morton Mens Mile...John Travers of Donore Harriers went under four minutes for the mile for the first time with 3:55.44 finishing in sixth place. His 1500m split of 3:37.27 qualified him for the European Championships (3:39.30).





The full results of the Morton Games can be seen HERE

Feidhlim Kelly has a short report on the Morton Games in the Irish Examiner HERE

***
On the same evening, Kelly Proper (Ferrybank AC) ran 23.16 in the 200m in Rhede in Germany. That time moves her to second on the Irish all-time list and is inside the European Track and Field Championships Standard of 23.35.

Top 5 Irish times
200 m
1 23.02 NR 0.3 Sarah Reilly    3 Jul 73 WC Edmonton 8 Aug 2001
2 23.16 0.6 Kelly Proper 1 May 88 1 Rhede 11 Jul 2014
3 23.17i NR Ciara Sheehy 12 Aug 80 1    NC Birmingham 2 Mar 2003
4 23.30 1.3 Niamh Whelan 26 Jul 90 ETC-1 Budapest 20 Jun 2010
5 23.33 -1.0 Joanne Cuddihy    11 May 84 1 NC Dublin 23 Jul 2006

***
Last Monday, Brian Gregan of Clonliffe Harriers qualified for the European Track and Field Championships (46.0 sec standard) when he ran a season’s best of 45.94 to finish sixth in the 400m at the Gugl Meet in Austria.

***
Several Irish atheltes were in action at the Welsh Athletics International in Cardiff on Tuesday. Fionnuala Britton finished sixth in 15.38.01 in the 5000m with Sarah Lavin (UCD) third in the 100m hurdles running 13.37. In the pole vault, Zoe Brown cleared 4.45m setting a new personal best.

Mark English finishes 2nd in prestigious Diamond League race

Mark English from Donegal is currently the best Irish athlete over 800m in the country. In a high profile IAAF Diamond League race in New York last Saturday, Mark finished in second place to none other than the Olympic champions and world record holder David Rudisha.

1 RUDISHA David KEN 1:44.63 SB
2 ENGLISH Mark IRL 1:45.03 SB
3 SOLOMON Duane USA 1:45.13
4 LEWANDOWSKI Marcin POL 1:45.23
5 KSZCZOT Adam POL 1:45.37
6 VÁZQUEZ Wesley PUR 1:45.79
7 CHERUIYOT Ferguson Rotich KEN 1:45.90
8 ANDREWS Robby USA 1:46.28 SB
9 RUTT Michael USA 1:46.33 SB
10 RIMMER Michael GBR 1:46.75 SB

In the race video, Mark is in lane 3 in a bright orange singlet. He is by the way, still only 21 years old.

Irish Athletics News from the past week or so...

Just some athletics news from the last week or so....

Back on the 31st of May, Ciarán Ó Lionáird from Cork broke the 4 minute barrier for the mile again when he ran 3:57.99 at the Men's International Mile at the Prefontaine Classic in Oregon in the US. This was a seasons best for Ciarán and shows the progress he is making as he regains his fitness after an operation on his Achilles last Autumn. A post race interview can be seen on Ciarán's website.

Also on the 31st of May, Thomas Barr from Ferrybank AC in Waterford set a new Irish record in the 400m hurdles when finished in 49.61 seconds at the IFAM International Flanders Meet in Oordegem Belgium. The previous record of 49.73 was set by Tom McGuirk. The time that Thomas set was also inside the qualification time of 50.15 for the European Track and Field Championships that take place in Zurich in August.

On the 8th of June, Mark English from Donegal ran a seasons best of 1.46.22 in the 800m race at the FBK Games in Hengelo, Netherlands.This was inside the qualification time of 1.46.45 for the European Track and Field Championships.

On Thursday the 5th of June, Paul Robinson (St Coca’s AC) ran a season’s best of 3.36.45 to place 12th in the 1500m in a high class field at the IAAF Diamond League in Rome. This is the second time this season that he has dipped inside the European qualification standard of 3.39.30.

On Sunday the 8th of June, Luke Hickey of Leevale AC finished 3rd in the mens 20k at the Grand Prix of Race Walking meet in York, England. This race incorporated the Irish 20k championships so Luke also took the Irish national 20k title. His time was 1.28.10. Just behind him was Brendan Boyce from Donegal in 1:28:25. Both Luke and Brendan are part of Rob Heffernan's training group based in Cork.

20 km Men
1 Dane Bird-Smith 1992 U23 Australia 01:24:03
2 Quentin Rew 1984 Men New Zealand 01:27:54
3 Luke Hickey 1994 U23 Ireland 01:28:13
4 Brendan Boyce 1986 Men Ireland 01:28:25
5 Thomas Bosworth 1990 Men England 01:29:10
6 James Treanor 1993 U23 Ireland 01:30:32
7 Anders Hansson 1992 U23 Sweden 01:32:36
8 Joakim Saelen 1993 U23 Norway 01:37:11
9 Ian Richards 1948 M65 Steyning AC 01:49:27
10 Jonathon Hobbs 1993 U23 Ashford AC 01:53:17
11 Richard Wild 1970 M40 Manx Harriers 01:54:53
12 Steve Uttley 1957 M55 Ilford AC 01:57:57

On Monday the 9th of June, Rose-Anne Galligan finished 5th in the 800m race at the Memorial Josefa Odlozila in Prague. Her time time was 2m 03.95s. The qualifying standard for the European Championships is 2:01.3

5    Galligan Rose-Anne    IRL     2:03.95

Irish international Mark English wins 800m in Sweden

At the indoor XL Galan games in Sweden on Thursday evening the 6th of February, the 800m Irish record holder Mark English won one of the two 800m races in a time of 1:47.69. Although it was the weaker of the two races, Mark's time came just days after he broke the Irish record by running 1:46.82 last weekend.

Irish athletes qualify for World Indoor Championships...

The Athletics Ireland Open Games were held at the new indoor track in Athlone over the weekend with two Irish athletes qualifying for the World Indoor Championships in Poland in early March.

In the mens 800m, Mark English (UCD AC) set a new Irish Men’s Senior Indoor Record of 1:46.82. The previous record of 1:47.21 which was held by Daniel Caulfield has stood for 13 years. This time was also inside the qualification time of 1:47.00 for the World Indoors. Mark who is just 20 years old also set a new U23 Irish Indoor record in the process.

Mark English #239 on the way to setting a new Irish indoor record...Pic : Kieran Carlin of Finn Valley AC

800 metre Sen Men International
1 KUPERS Thijem        Holland        1:46.78   
2 ENGLISH Mark        U.C.D. A.C.        1:46.82   
3 RODRIGUEZ Alex        Spain        1:48.05   

In a post race interview, Mark English said....“I had it in the back of my head that I wanted to run the World Indoor standard, I obviously got an Irish Record along with that, so that was a huge bonus to get that too. I’m coming away from here with a lot learnt and I’m very happy with that performance.”

Coach Chris Jones with David McCarthy

In the 1500m, David McCarthy of West Waterford AC finished in a time of 3:39.14, inside the World Indoor Standard of 3:41.00. He has already ran the qualifying time for the 3000m.

1500 meter Sen Men International
1 HOUOLUSA Jakub        CZE        3:38.79   
2 David McCarthy        West Waterford    Sen    3:39.14   
3 COGHLAN John        Metro/St. Brigid's A.C.        3:43.31   

Speaking after the race he said: “It was good. I ran in Vienna on Wednesday night and I ran 3:42 and it felt so tough and rough because the race was so crowded I was being pushed all over the place – all my energy was taking up trying to stay on my feet. The target for today was just to run fast and keep my energy for racing”

Some of the Cork results...

60 metre Sen Women
1 FOSTER Amy        City of Lisburn AC        7.40  
2 HEALY Phil        Bandon A.C.        7.43    
3 MCMANUS Catherine        Celtic DCH A.C.        7.59  
4 NIAMH Whelan        Ferrybank A.C.        7.62  
5 HEALY Joan        Bandon A.C.        7.65

800 metre Sen Women
1 FURLONG Brona        Slaney Olympic A.C.        2:13.60   
2 RAFTER Eileen        Tullamore Harriers A.C.        2:16.06   
3 O'SHEA Rachael        West Muskerry A.C.        2:16.11   

60m Hurdles 0,84m Sen Women
1 MCMANUS Catherine        Celtic DCH A.C.        8.64   
2   DUBO Orlane        Galway City Harriers A.C.        9.73   
3   HOWARD Roisin        Bandon A.C.        9.95   

Shot Put 4,000kg Sen Women
Pos    ID    Name    PB    Team    Cat    Result    Rank    1    2    3    4    5    6
MESLOH Sarah        Ballon Rathoe A.C.        13.00    1    13.00    12.68    12.70     X           
DALY Shauna        St. Abbans A.C.        10.50    2    10.06    10.02    10.50    10.29           
HOWARD Roisin        Bandon A.C.        10.33    3    9.69    10.33    9.82     X           
   
Long Jump Sen Men
Name    PB    Team    Cat    Result    Rank    1    2    3    4    5    6
MCMULLEN Adam        Crusaders A.C.        7.28    1    7.15    6.91    7.28    7.21           
GUILLON Benjamin    Leevale A.C.        7.09    2    7.04     X     X    7.09           
FAHEY Eamonn        Donore Harriers        6.76    3     X    6.56    6.73    6.76  

Full results HERE

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??

Interview with top Irish 800m athlete Mark English

Mark English is one of the best athletes in the country and currently is the second fastest Irish man ever over 800 metres. His best time of 1:44.84 seconds which he set last month in London is just two one-hundredths of a second behind the current Irish record of 1:44.82. Considering that Mark is just 20 years old, it is surely only a matter of time before he breaks that record.

His performance last month was also inside the qualifying standard for the World Championships in Moscow which start next Saturday. He is due to race in the heats of the 800m at 8:20am that morning.

In the interview below with the Second Captains sports programme, Mark discusses his career, his realistic chances in the World Championships and his plans for the future.

Just click on the sound display and go forward to the start of the interview which starts at 56:30 and lasts until 1:09.00

Rose-Anne Galligan sets new Irish 800m record at London Anniversary Games...

At the London Anniversary Games in London on Friday the 26th of July, Rose-Anne Galligan set a new Irish national record when she finished the womens 800m race in 6th place in a time of 2:00.58. The previous record of 2:00.69 was set by Sonia O'Sullivan in Russia 19 years ago in July 1994.

* DNF for Laura Crowe as she was the pacemaker for this prestigious event.

Rose-Anne's previous best time was 2:01.07 which she set in Spain in June of this year. That time had her ranked 3rd fastest woman ever for the distance.

How long will it be before an Irish woman breaks the elusive 2 minute barrier?

Rose-Anne and Laura start in the outside lane. At 400m, Laura is at the front doing the pace making while Rose-Anne is at the back of the pack..


Mens 800m...In the mens 800m race, Mark English from Donegal set a new personal best time of 1:44.84 seconds to finish 6th.

 That time is also faster then the A-Standard time of 1:45.3 required to qualify for the World Championships in Moscow in a few weeks time.

Mark is wearing yellow and is at the back of the pack on the first lap. What a great finish though!



Mark's new PB of 1:44.84 is just two one-hundredths of a second slower than David Matthews 19 year record of 1:44.82 which was set in Italy in September 1995. Considering Mark is only 20 years old, it's probably only a matter of time before that particular record goes.

Irish Times article on Mark English...

The Irish Times had a recent piece recently on 20 year old Mark English, one of the up and coming stars in Irish Athletics. 

Last May, Mark English won the 800 metres at the Flanders International meeting in Oordegem, Belgium, in a time of 1:45.77 improving his own Irish junior record by over a second. This was just 0.17 seconds short of the Olympic 'A' standard for the London Games. It also makes him the fifth fastest on the Irish all-time senior list, forcing Marcus O’Sullivan, with his best of 1:45.87, down to sixth.

800 Metres....Top Six Irish men
1 1.44.82 David Matthews 09.04.74 3 Rieti ITA 05.09.95
2 1.45.32 James McIlroy 30.12.76 4 Nice FRA 16.07.98
3 1.45.41 Thomas Chamney 16.04.84 3 Oslo NOR 03.07.09
4 1.45.59 David Campbell 28.01.82 4 Oslo NOR 03.07.09
5 1.45.77 Mark  English 18.03.93 1 Oordedgem BEL 26.05.12
6 1.45.87 Marcus O'Sullivan 22.12.61 3 Berlin GER 23.08.85

The article was written by Ian O'Riordan and you can read it HERE