Mageean through to European final

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Mageean through to European final

3 March 2017

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Mageean through to European final

Ciara Mageean (UCD) battled her way through to the women’s 1500m final at the European Indoor Championships in Belgrade.

It didn’t go to plan with Mageean finishing fourth in her heat in 4:12.81 to edge through as one of the three fastest non-automatic qualifiers. Sweden’s Meraf Bahta won in 4:12.39.

The Portaferry woman was in the top two automatic positions for most of the race but was run out at the finish.

“I didn’t want to leave it that late as a fastest loser. My plan was to get one or two but I’m through to the final and that’s all that matters,” said Mageean afterwards. Kerry O'Flaherty (Newcastle) finished 6th in 4:23.82 in heat three of the 1500m and didn’t advance.

John Travers (Donore Harriers) advanced to the men’s 1500m final after an appeal following a seventh place finish in 3:59.72 after a bizarre men's 1500m heat where a false start recall led to him stopping for several seconds along with Spanish athlete Marc Alcala. Team manager Patsy McGonagle successfully appealed afterwards where Alcala also advanced.

Brian Gregan (Clonliffe Harriers) was disappointed to finished sixth in his 400m semi-final in 48.08. Ben Reynolds (North Down) also bowed out in sixth in his 60m hurdles semi-final in 7.81 seconds. Tomas Cotter (Dunleer) was disqualified in the men's 3,000m heats.