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??

Sarah Lavin...Silver medalist at the recent European Athletics Junior Championships

At the Irish Senior Track and Field Championships in Dublin last weekend, Sarah Lavin of Emerald AC in Limerick won the Gold in the womens 100m hurdles in a winning time of 13.61 seconds.

Just one week earlier on the 20th of July, 19 year old Sarah won the Silver medal in the final of the European Athletics Junior Championships in Rieti, Italy. Sarah's time of 13.34 seconds was a new Irish Junior record for the event and she is currently the third fastest on the all time list for Irish women.

The gap between second and third in the final was just two one-hundredths of a second...

The race in full......(Actual race starts at 4:00)


Post race interview...


Medal ceremony...

So how does Sarah Lavins time of 13.34 seconds compare to Derval O'Rourkes times?

In 2000 when Derval was aged 19, her best time was 13.61 seconds. In 2003 aged 22, Derval broke the 13 second barrier when she ran 12.96 seconds. Derval's best time of 12.65 seconds was in 2010 when she was 29 years old.

They are of course two completely different athletes and there is no guarantee that Sarah can reach Derval's world class times but the potential is certainly there. It will be interesting to see how she progresses towards the 13 second barrier over the next few years.