Mark English eyes new record at ‘magic’ Monaco

August’s World Championships in Beijing may be the summer priority but Mark English has also earmarked the Monaco Diamond League meet in mid-July for a crack at David Matthews’ 20-year old Irish 800m record.

English has already claimed the indoor version of that honour, running the distance in 1:46.82 at the Woodie’s DIY AAI Open Games in Athlone last February, and, in the process, shaving almost 0.4 of a second off the mark set by Daniel Caulfield 13 years earlier.

His personal best outdoors still stands at 1:44.84, which he ran in London’s Olympic Stadium two years ago, and he will need to chop 0.03 seconds off that in the Mediterranean principality if he is to achieve his aim in just over three weeks’ time.