Mark English (Finn Valley AC) opened his 2026 season in style tonight, breaking his own national indoor 600m record in Dublin.
The Donegal doctor returned to action for the first time since racing in the semi-final of the Men’s 800m at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo last September, clocking a hugely impressive time of 1:15.80 at the Track and Field live meeting held at the National Indoor Arena in Abbotstown.
This betters his previous indoor best of 1:16.64 which he ran in Boston in 2024.
English, who has won five European medals including bronze at last year’s European Indoor Championships, is set to step back up to the 800m in the coming weeks as he builds towards the World Indoor Championships which take place in Toruń, Poland in March.
Elsewhere this evening Sarah Leahy (Killarney Valley AC) broke the national record over 50m. Racing at the Meeting Indoor Iocarnese in Switzerland, Leahy clocked a time of 6.41 seconds, bettering Ailis McSweeney’s previous record (6.44) which had been set in 2005.
