Mageean looks to make mark in Tallinn

FOLLOWING medal successes at the world youth and European U23 championships, Ciara Mageean (City of Lisburn) will be one of the favourites at the women’s European junior 1,500m final in Tallinn on Thursday morning.

She was still an intermediate schoolgirl when she finished 10th in the final of the 1,500m.

Since making her debut at the world junior championships in Bydgoszcz in 2008, she reached the final of the 1,500m at the Commonwealth Games and broke all underage middle distance records including Sonia O’Sullivan’s.

A strong team of 15 — six men and nine women — also includes the talented Letterkenny junior, Mark English. He made the 1,000m final at last year’s Youth Olympics in Singapore after winning the event at the qualifier in Moscow earlier this summer.

During the indoor season he set the boards ablaze with two big wins over older clubmate, Darren McBrearty, at 800m including the Irish Indoor Championships at the Odyssey Arena. This week English contests the 800m and will be a contender for a medal.

In the past Ireland won gold medals at those championships through Nick O’Brien in the 3,000m in 1985, Mark Carroll in the 5,000m in 1991 and Colin Costello in the 1,500m in Kaunas in 2005. As well as three gold medals, Ireland has won three silvers and four bronze medals at the championships.

Kevin Ankrom, High Performance Director, is looking forward to more good results from Tallinn.

“We have a good crew out there,” he said. “But we need to progress — to set up a structure that ensures nobody gets lost in transition — that’s one of the exciting things I’m here for.

“I’ve done it before and I know the formula for success. Look at New Zealand. They’ve come off a successful world junior championships and Commonwealth Games last year and now their most successful world youths championships ever and that’s the result of the planning and the structures we put in place. We need to ensure there is consistency here.”