MARK ENGLISH IS set to become a three-time Olympian this summer after he sealed his qualification for Paris 2024 in Finland on Tuesday evening.
The Donegal native ran 1:44.69 to finish second in the 800m at the Paavo Nurmi Games, bettering his three-year old national record by two-hundredths of a second.
Crucially, English’s time just dipped under the Olympic qualification standard time of 1:44.70, booking his ticket to Paris.
Meanwhile, Sarah Lavin — who has already secured Olympic qualification — put her European Championship disappointment behind her as she clocked a season’s best of 12.66 seconds to finish third in the 60m hurdles.
Of those Irish athletes seeking to climb the rankings ahead of the Olympic cut-off, Cathal Doyle won the 1500m in a personal best time of 3:34.09, leading home an Irish 1-2 ahead of Luke McCann (3:34.32), while Louise Shanahan’s 2:02.59 in the 800m was a season’s best.
Recently-crowned European relay champion Thomas Barr finished fourth in the 400m hurdles in 49.46.
Great to see their fighting spirit and bouncing back from disappointment in Rome. Delighted to see our Irish athletes continuing to do well
You’ll never beat the English.
@Setanta O’Toole: TOOLE
Always thought he should move up to the 1500, but fair play to him for qualifying for another Olympics.
@Kevin Dillon: Yeah suprised actually he hasn’t done the odd 1500 or mile race from time to time to see what he would do over the distance and as training to help with some endurance and to mix things up. Can’t find any races at the distance on his world athletics profile, although he did move up from 400m originally it seems so he’s probably more on the sprint side rather than endurance. 400m vs 1500m is completely different running when you really think about what discipline he started in
@sean murphy: agree and acknowledge he moved from 400. But championship races such as Olympics and world’s are more technical and slower, and his 800 experience could prove very valuable in a slow 1500 race. Just a thought.
@Kevin Dillon: absolutely, only challenge would be getting a quick enough time to get into big 1500m championship races. Its also a very stacked event at the minute!