Mark English proved his doubters wrong on Tuesday evening when he shattered his personal Irish 800 metres record, thereby ensuring his place in his third Olympic games. He achieved this feat during the Paavo Nurmi Games held in Turku, Finland, where he had initially aimed to notch up his ranking points for a chance to secure a spot in the Paris event quota. However, he outdid himself by clocking 1:44.69, a whisker ahead of the 1:44.70 required for automatic qualification, making Paris a forthcoming reality for the 31-year-old doctor from Donegal.
Coming a close second to Sweden’s Andreas Kramer, who clinched victory at 1:44.65, English not only improved his previous Irish record of 1:44.71, established three years ago, but also automatically qualified for Tokyo. This surpassed the long-standing record of 1:44.82 set by David Matthews in 1995.
Prior to the event, English was propelled by the disappointing performance at the European Championships held in Rome earlier in the month, where his race ended in the initial round with a time of 1:46.73. Energised by this, he rigorously pursued and overtook French runner, Benjamin Robert, who subsequently came third at a time of 1:44.79.
Meanwhile, in the men’s 1,500m at Turku, Cathal Doyle and Luke McCann made Ireland proud by finishing first and second respectively. Even though their times of 3:34.09 and 3:34.32 fell short of the 3:33.50 required for automatic Paris qualification, their rankings are projected to take a significant upturn. McCann currently ranks 39th, well within the quota of 45, while Doyle trails slightly at 49.
Sarah Lavin bounced back from her Rome ordeal by achieving her season’s best of 12.66, nearly equalling her personal Irish record of 12.62. This time already qualifies her for the Paris event. Nia Ali from the USA bagged the victory with a time of 12.48.
Louise Shanahan earned vital grading points as she completed the 800m in her season’s best time of 2:02.59, achieving a 10th place finish. Additionally, Thomas Barr edged closer to meeting the quota by taking the fourth place in the 400m hurdle race with a strong finish at 49.46. This was all leading up to the deadline on June 30th. English now joins the rank of ten Irish athletes who have already secured their places for Paris, in addition to the mixed and women’s 4x400m relay teams.