Olympic Standard for Mark English

Mark English (UCD AC), Thomas Barr (Ferrybank AC) and Mary Cullen (Sligo AC) took part in the high profile Anniversary Games in London on Saturday, 25th of July. English was the most impressive of the trio as he placed fourth in the 800m against a world class field.

English Achieves Olympic Qualifying Standard

English bounced back in style after overcoming a recent injury niggle to record a time of 1.45.49 to dip inside the required standard (1.45.80) for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio. The race in London pitted two of the best 800m runners in the world against each other; the world record holder David Rudisha of Kenya and Nigel Amos of Botswana. Amos had the superior speed in the finishing straight to win the race in a time of 1.44.57, with Rudisha second and Adam Kszczot of Poland third. English bided his time and stormed through over the final 100m to place an impressive fourth in the high quality race.

Barr was also in action in the Olympic stadium as he place sixth in the 400m Hurdles in a time of 49.85 seconds. Barr nursing a hip injury lacked his usual strong finish over the last 100m to finish sixth behind Michael Tinsley (USA) who won the race in a time of 49.02 seconds. Cullen ran in the 5,000m race in search of the world championship qualifying time of 15.20.00. However it wasn’t to be for the Sligo athlete as she crossed the line in 11th place in a time of 15.32.76.

Morton Games

A day previous to the Diamond League meeting in London the Morton Games took place in Santry with a mixture of international and top Irish athletes delighting the packed stadium. Ciara Mageean (UCD AC) brought the crowd to their feet as she won the women’s mile in a time of 4.30.65. Kelly Proper (Ferrybank AC) continued to impress as she won the 200m in a time of 23.54 as did Karl Griffin (UCD AC) in the 800m as he won in a time of 1.47.47. Brian Gregan (Clonliffe Harriers AC) almost snatched victory in the 400m placing second in a time of 45.99 seconds.