CIARA MAGEEAN CLAIMED a smooth second place in tonight’s first 1500 metre heat to seal a place in Sunday night’s Olympic semi-final.
The 24-year-old finished behind reigning world champion Genzebe Dibaba in a time of 4:11.51 after a flawless trip around a very sparsely populated stadium.
Hotline Rings: Rio 2016 / SoundCloud
The Portaferry woman positioned herself well from the off, nestling in behind the leading trio and comfortably keeping pace on the outside.
A bunched field hit 800 metres in 2:21.2 and Mageean took the bell in third, just behind Dibaba. Once the Ethiopian made her move to power towards the front, Mageean soon followed and she comfortably burned off the chasing pack before easing off in the final straight.