DAY 2: MAGEEAN AND ADELEKE SECURE EUROPEAN FINAL PLACES

Ciara Mageean (1500m) and Rhasidat Adeleke (400m) advanced to their respective finals on day 2 of the European Athletics Championships in Munich this morning (Aug 16th).

Mageean secured her place in Friday’s 1500m final with an impressive front-running display. The City of Lisburn athlete, who won a bronze medal at these championships in 2016, secured one of the automatic qualification places with a 2nd place finish in a time of 4:03.03 which ranks as her best 1500m time this season.

The Commonwealth Games silver medallist is sure to have medals on her mind once again having secured safe passage through the often-tricky semi-final stage. Mageean, who was also entered in Thursday’s 800m heats alongside Louise Shanahan will now focus fully on this week’s primary target which is the 1500m final on Friday (7.45pm Irish time).

Sarah Healy also went in the 1500m semi-final this morning, but it was not to be for the UCD star who crossed in 11th place in a time of 4.10.75. This season has seen another huge step forward for the Tokyo Olympian and there will be many more major championship appearances to come for the 21-year-old.

Rhasidat Adeleke, who is ranked 6th in the 400m, ran a superb semi-final race to cross in 51.08 to claim one of the non-automatic qualification places for tomorrow’s medal decider. Adeleke went out hard from the gun and was right up alongside heat winner Femke Bol (NED) coming around the final bend, before dropping a place in the final fifty meters to cross in 3rd place.

Making a European senior final continues Adeleke’s meteoric rise which has seen her claim two gold medals (100m & 200m) at the European U20 Championships last year, before going on to secure a 9th place finish at the World Championships (senior) in Oregon last month. Adeleke will return to the track at 9.02pm tomorrow for the 400m final.

A fast men’s 400m semi-final unfortunately saw North Sligo’s Chris O'Donnell bow out with a 45.73 5th place finish. It's been a whirlwind 12 months for the Olympic and World relay finalist which included a new personal best of 45.26 earlier this summer and he will look forward to a big 2023 season on the road to the Paris 2024.

Brendan Boyce was first of the Irish in action on day 2, taking his place on the start line of the 35k walk. Boyce started steady and by the 20k mark had begun to work his way through the field, staying on strongly to cross the finish in 10th place in a time of 2:38:03. Boyce made up 10 places over the last 15k in another superb display of championship racing.

The medals went the way of Miguel Ángel Lopez (ESP) 2:26:49, Christopher Linke (GER) 2:29:30PB, and Matteo Giupponi (ITA) 2:30:34 PB.

DAY 2: EVENING SESSION

Israel Olatunde will return to the starting blocks for his semi-final at 7.19pm tonight, buoyed by yesterday’s blistering 10.19PB. The 20-year-old will likely need another PB performance to make the final with only the first 2 in each semi-final (Q) along with the next 2 fastest (q) advancing.

Rounding out day 2 for the Irish will be Darragh McElhinney (ranked 12th) and Brian Fay (ranked 11th) in the 5,000m final at 8.08pm. Both athletes have had superb seasons to date and will likely track each other as they bid to break into the top 10.

Team Ireland European Championships

(Times listed in Irish Time)

Tuesday 16th

• 7.19pm Men’s 100m Semi-Final 3: Israel Olatunde
• 8.08pm Men’s 5,000m Final: Darragh McElhinney, Brian Fay
• Entry Lists and lull results: HERE