Mark English, yet again, broke his own Irish national record for the 800m run twice in a span of four days. He completed an impressive run with a time of 1:44.53, securing fourth place at the Continental Tour event held in Madrid on Friday evening. This comes in the wake of his 1:44.69 sprint in Finland on Tuesday, at the same time enabling his eligibility for Paris automatically. This excellent performance sees the 31-year-old Donegal native qualifying for his third Olympics.
Moreover, his Tuesday’s run topped his former Irish record of 1:44.71 established three years prior, which also gained him immediate entry to Tokyo. In doing so, he surpassed David Matthews’ 1:44.82 standing since 1995. English, by his own account, had an additional incentive heading to Madrid. This was part of the esteemed World Athletics Continental Tour Gold, stemming from his unsatisfactory performance earlier this month in Rome at the European Championships, where he was eliminated in the early rounds with a 1:46.73 run.