THERE WAS DISAPPOINTMENT for Ireland’s three representatives in the 800m semi-finals at the European Indoor Championships in Toruń, Poland, this evening.
Nadia Power, Mark English and Cian McPhillips failed to make tomorrow’s finals, with all three finishing fourth, though positives can be taken.
Power was first up, her wait to reach a first senior championship final continuing after a glittering indoor season. The Dubliner finished fourth in her semi-final, clocking a time of 2:04.04 after a brave performance.
With just the first two going through, the stakes were high for Power. She looked strong early on, starting off in lane five and doing everything right tactically up to the halfway point.
Disappointment for Nadia Power as she finishes 4th in the 800m semi and misses out on the final #Torun2021 pic.twitter.com/uccKdBuQj2
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) March 6, 2021
From there, she took off and eased herself into the lead down the home straight of lap three of four, approaching the bell. The 23-year-old soon found herself in no man’s land, however, after Great Britain’s Ellie Baker cut in and took the race by the scruff of the neck.
To Power’s credit, she never gave up, but things certainly got away from her as Poland’s Angelika Cichocka won it out in 2:03.18, while Baker took second.
“I just wanted to run to my strength, to hit it hard in the middle of the race and run to my strengths,” she told RTÉ after. “I did that, and ran with no regrets. At least I was brave and went for it. It still was a great season and I learned a lot from it.
“I’m super disappointed today but I’m so, so motivated for the summer.”
"It's still been a great season and I've learned a lot" - Nadia Power reflects on her 800m semi-final in an interview with @davidgillick #Torun2021 pic.twitter.com/osIx3l65qO
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) March 6, 2021
Having enjoyed a rich vein of form this indoor season, smashing her PB to hit 2:00.98 and setting two Irish records before Síofra Cléirigh-Buttner retained it, Power sealed her semi-final spot after holding strong to finish in second place in her heat yesterday, clocking a time of 2:03:16.
Irish record holder Cléirigh-Buttner and Georgie Hartigan both finished fourth in their respective heats, so failed to progress.
Elsewhere in this evening’s semi-finals, red-hot favourite Keely Hodgkinson, the 19-year-old from Great Britain, dominated the first to win in 2:03.11, with Switzerland’s Lora Hoffmann coming in second.
Hodgkinson’s and Baker’s GB team-mate Isabelle Boffey, also 19, booked her spot in the final in the second with a second-place finish, while Poland’s Joanna Józwik won it out in 2:03.15.
Moving to the Irish interest in the men’s equivalent, like Power, McPhillips finished fourth in his blisteringly fast 800m semi-final in a time of 1:48.06.
McPhillips ran well, and everyone wrongly thought he was rewarded for his efforts by securing the European U20 record — though that was announced in error at the time.
Poland’s Mateusz Borkowski (1:45.79) and Great Britain’s Jamie Webb (1:45.99) finishedfirst and second. (There was serious confusion afterwards, though, with Borkowski disqualified and Sweden’s Andreas Kramer (1:46.87) bumped up, though he was later restored.)
18-year-old Cian McPhillips finishes a creditable 4th in his 800m semi-final #Torun2021 @irishathletics pic.twitter.com/dx8d4AmIYv
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) March 6, 2021
Likewise, English finished fourth in his semi-final in 1:48.99 — in the last of the 800ms.
The Donegal man was left behind early on and while he mounted a brave comeback, he looked to run out of steam in the latter stages. France’s Pierre-Ambriose Bosse won in 1:47.86, with Poland’s Adam Kszczot second in 1:47.98.
“The head is raised high and I’m looking forward to getting back and training for Tokyo,” English told RTÉ afterwards.
'The head is raised high and I'm looking forward to getting back and training for Tokyo' - Mark English looking ahead after his semi-final exit #Torun2021 @irishathletics pic.twitter.com/1rfotdqI7n
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) March 6, 2021
Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Amel Tuka and Poland’s Patryk Dobek finished 1-2 in the first semi-final in 1:47.55 and 1:47.56 respectively, as Spain’s Mariano Garcia missed out.
Both English and McPhillips made it through their heats last night to reach the semi-finals; Longford youngster McPhillips recording a time of 1:49.98 to finish second after an exceptional run, while English overcame a stumble to finish third in 1:49.79.
The pair recently produced an 800m for the ages at the Irish Athletics Micro Meet, three-time European medallist English shattering his own national record, pushed all the way by Leaving Cert student McPhillips who came up just 0.03 seconds short at the line.
Both broke the seven-year-old record of 1:46.82; English clocking 1:46.10, and McPhillips hitting 1.46.13 — the latter knocking six seconds off his old PB, and breaking the Irish U20 record.
Ok I’ll be the first to say it. Just move the home games to Wembley. That way most of the home fans have less distance to travel anyway.
@Darren McGuire: I doubt you are the first to say something like that
@Darren McGuire: funny cos it’s true
@Alana: funny cause its not…
@Teddyzigzagbigbag: they should move their home games to the Aviva
It’s a good move. United are the best supported club in England. Their average attendance is over 74k which is pretty much capacity. Spurs are second which is to be expected when they are in wembley and then suprisingly comes Arsenal and west ham. Liverpool are below city with an average of 53k per match which is over 20k per game shy of United. That 20k difference is the same as Swansea or watfords average attendance for this season.
@Jim Demps: man knows his attendances!!
@Jim Demps: what’s surprising about Arsenal and West Ham coming 3rd and 4th, they have the 3rd and 4th largest stadiums. Man City and Liverpool don’t have the capacity to be higher on the list.
@John Buckley: Jim is just quoted the largest stadiums in order and appears to be suprised that they also have the highest attendances
@Jim Demps: god you are smart
@Gareth Keenan: maybe you should read both comments again. He is going by attendance order only, Wembley is bigger than Old Trafford. I asked what was surprising because it is no surprise to most people. Your comment added absolutely nothing to this thread.
@John Buckley: I guess the surprise on my part was that of West Ham being so far up the list. I know they have a large stadium and a good fan base but I didn’t think they were getting that high of an average attendance. If I’d have had to guess before I looked it up I would have put them down around 6-7th with Liverpool.
Looks like all the commenters on this thread are either football stadia enthusiasts or dusted off the old encyclopedias… Haha, great stuff lads.
88000 wouldn’t be the biggest in Europe.
@Slim Jim: I imagine the story is misconstruing the point. An 88k capacity would almost certainly see United have the highest average attendance in Europe (Dortmund’s is 79k and Barcelona 77k).
Wouldn’t be the first time united have used city’s ground as home. City allowed united to use Maine road after WW2. Ethiad is much more of a city centre stadium being only 20 mins from Piccadilly. Also, city don’t actually own the ethiad, they just pay an annual rent to Manchester City council (similar to shamrock rovers) so I could see this happening.
@Dublin Gooner: city own there own stadium they bought it years ago and Old Trafford is as close to Piccadilly as city’s ground is
@Colm Connolly: city do not own the stadium. They have a 99 year lease or some such deal from manchester city council.
Another way to extract cash for their tourist fans by extending
the library, well its as quiet as a library on match days anyway….
@Forfar So Good: Oh so when you called it a library, you didn’t mean it was an actual library, where you can go to acquire books on a temporary basis for free. That’s where my confusion came from. You were in fact talking about the fact that traditionally libraries are quiet, and were humourously comparing the stadium to that, by inferring that it is also quiet. I get it.
@Jack Jones: the away fans are normally the quietest in OT
@Forfar So Good: How droll. Show me any stadium in England which has outstanding atmosphere in every game. Before Anfield is mentioned, like any other team that only happens on the biggest occasions. English stadiums are simply not as loud now. The average attendees are older now.
They don’t think much of themselves do they
A new manager should be priority, before United slip away into an abyss of mediocrity.
@Daniel Donovan: The abyss of being ahead of every team in England bar Man City.
It would just be a bigger library
As United fan I’d think we would have more things pressing issues to be concerned about. I mean which is more important right now; getting back to being a strong team or saying we used to win things, but look at the size of the stadium?
@Andrew Keane: it’s not going to happen for another 2 to 3 years and word is over here they would use boltons stadium.
@Andrew Keane: Proper planning means looking beyond 2-3 years. Besides United are clearly improved in the league this season and are clearly going to be among the challengers next season.
@Gary Dunne: LOL! Next year is our year. Where did i hear that before?
@Paul Friday Shannon: what’s the capacity of Bolton’s stadium. If you’re talking 30,000 or less you may as well say Oldham or Bury which are probably considered part of Greater Manchester now.