Galligan impresses in Athlone as English runs fast 500m

Galligan impresses with world indoor standard

Rose-Anne Galligan (Newbridge) impressed with a world indoor 1500m standard as Canadians Melissa Bishop and Shawn Barber were the stars of the AIT International Grand Prix in front of a capacity crowd in Athlone last night.

Bishop moved to the front at the start of the women’s 800m and the world silver medallist looked effortless throughout as she pulled away from her rivals, coming home a convincing winner in a Canadian indoor record of 2:00.60.

Her countryman Shawn Barber was equally impressive in the men’s pole vault, the world champion outdoor champion soaring over a stadium record of 5.79m to take victory ahead of close rival Sam Kendricks (USA), who was second with 5.71m.

Brian Gregan got his 2016 campaign underway in the men’s 400m, but the Clonliffe Harrier was outclassed from the start by world indoor champion Pavel Maslak of the Czech Republic, who equalled Gregan’s stadium record of 46.07. Gregan was second in 47.62.
Another Irish athlete to mix it with the international stars was Newbridge’s Rose-Anne Galligan, who was third in the women’s 1500m in 4:11.07, which qualifies her to run at the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Portland, Oregon next month.
Another to impress was City of Lisburn’s Amy Foster, who equalled her season’s best when finishing third in the women’s 60m in 7.33 seconds, but was just outside the qualifying standard for the World Indoor Championships (7.32).
In the men’s mile, Kilkenny’s Eoin Everard proved a victim of his own ambition, fading on the final lap to finish fourth in 4:03.16 after making a bold bid to break the four-minute barrier. The race was won by Ethiopia’s Dawit Wolde, who blitzed the field over the final three laps to set an Irish all-comers record of 3:54.02

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The women’s 60m hurdles produced the best contest of the night, with American Kristi Castlin edging last year’s champion Sharika Nelvis, 7.92 to 7.93. The night was rounded off with a stadium record in the men’s 60m by D’Angelo Cherry, who ran 6.58.

Meanwhile at the Globen Galen meeting in Stockholm last night, Mark English scored a convincing win over 500m. His winning time of 60.93 moved him to number six on the all-time European list. English will next compete at the Glasgow Indoor Grand Prix on Saturday, in which he will line up alongside former world champion Mohammed Aman and reigning European champion Adam Kszczot.

Full results HERE

Results
Women

60m 1. Barbara Pierre 7.12, 2. Olesya Pvkh 7.23, 3. Amy Foster 7.33
60m hurdles 1. Kristi Castlin 7.92, 2. Sharika Nelvis 7.93, 3. Hanna Platitsyna 8.10
800m 1. Melissa Bishop 2:00.60, 2. Adelle Tracey 2:02.34, 3. Anastasiya Tkachuk 2:02.44
1500m 1. Nancy Chepkwemoi 4:08.46, 2. Gesa Krause 4:09.49, 3. Rose-Anne Galligan 4:11.07
Men

60m 1. D’Angelo Cherry 6.58, 2. Diondre Batson 6.62, 3. Ramon Gittens 6.65
400m A 1. Pavel Maslak 46.07, 2. Brian Gregan 47.62, 3. Bjorn Blauwhof 47.75
400m B 1. Chris Brown 46.96, Luka Janezic 47.44, Clayton Parros 47.62
400m C 1. Patrick Feeney 47.00 2. Dane Hyatt 47.20, 3. Alphas Leken Kishoyian 48.15
800m 1. Michael Rimmer 1:48.13, 2.Guy Learmouth 1:48.20, 3. Jamie Webb 1:48.30
Mile 1. Dawit Wolde 3:54.02, 2. Filip Sasinek 4:00.07, 3. Lewis Moses 4:02.40
Pole Vault 1. Shawn Barber 5.77m, 2. Sam Kendricks 5.71m, 3. Max Eaves 5.45m
Triple Jump 1. Fabian Florent 16.34m, 2. Karol Hoffman 16.32m, 3. Viktor Iastrebov 15.89m