Mageean shows her class to advance to semi final

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Mageean shows her class to advance to semi-final

Ciara Mageean (UCD) showed her class to advance to the semi-finals of the women’s 1500m finishing second in her heat in 4:11.51 on day 1 of the athletics at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Mageean cut a focused and determined figure afterwards in a race won by Ethiopia’s gold medal favourite Genzebe Dibaba in 4:10.61. “If I didn’t think I’d qualify, I wouldn’t be here,” answered Mageean on qualifying for the semi-finals which take place on day 3 (August 13) at 21:30 Brazil time/1:30am Irish time.

The Portaferry woman was pleased with her performance and also drew inspiration from the silver medal-winning rowing brothers Paul and Gary O'Donovan. “It was great to see them medal and gives more motivation to perform at this level. I ran my own race and I just need to stay focused for the semi-finals.”

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