English bows out in Olympic semi final

Mark English (UCD) bowed out of the Olympics after a fifth place finish in his 800m semi-final final in 1:45.93 in Rio de Janeiro (August 13).

The Donegal man went in the third and final semi-final, needing to better the Irish record of 1:44.82 to be in with a chance of qualification. The first two in each semi and two fastest non-automatic qualifiers advanced to the final.   

Kenya’s world record holder David Rudisha was in impressive form to win English’s semi in 1:43.88. “I wanted to go out there and have no regrets,” said English afterwards. “I did the best race I could. It was always going to be tough running two races in two days.” The UCD medicine student had missed an important part of training in the build-up due to injury.

“I’m always looking to better myself and I focus on the process,” he concluded afterwards and he will continue to race for the rest of the season.