Monday 2nd – Tokyo 2020 Report

Ciara Mageean (City of Lisburn) was first of the Irish to take the start line for the 1500m heats but unfortunately didn’t make it through to the semi-final stage.

Breaking well from the gun, Mageean quickly settled to the front of the pack before getting slightly caught up as the leading group of 11 athletes bunched together taking the bell. Mageean confidently maintained her position in 6th with 300m to go but an injection of pace saw her drop back to her final finishing position of 10th as she bravely fought to the line.

The two-time Olympian mentioned in her post race interview with RTE that the injury picked up in the lead up to today did curtail her performance.

Mageean crossed the finish line in time of 4:07.29 and with only 6 automatic qualification place on offer, the Portaferry athlete was relaying on the remaining two heats being run at a much slower pace.

Unfortunately, the results didn’t go her way and it marked an end to her 2020 Olympic journey. Mageean had an amazing Olympic cycle which included a European Indoor bronze and a top 10 in a World Championship final (the first Irishwoman to do so since Sonia O’Sullivan in 1997), and there’s no doubt that she will be back to her world class best once again.

20-year-old Sarah Healy (UCD AC) was the next of the Irish Olympic debutants to take to the track in heat 3 of the 1500m.

The current national 1500m champion had settled to the rear of the leading pack but became detached as the pace quickened from the bell as athletes chased those automatic qualification places.

Healy battled all the way to the line to cross in 11th place in 4:09.78 which wasn’t enough to progress to the semi-final stage, but the experience gained will be invaluable to the UCD athlete who will certainly be looking to set sights on returning to this stage in 3 years’ time.

Olympic relay finalist Phil Healy (Bandon AC) took her place in the first individual event of her exceptionally busy week.

Healy looked to have recovered remarkably well from her relay final exploits and clocked a 23.21 season’s best to finish 5th in her 200m heat.

It was unfortunately not enough to progress to the semi-final, but Healy won’t have to wait long for another Olympic Stadium appearance with the Bandon star set to join the one lap wonders in the heats of the 400m on Tuesday morning.

Live Results: Click HERE