Q&A: Ciara Mageean: ‘A world medal — I’d give my right arm for it’

Flagged as a great Irish middle-distance hope since winning silver at the World Youth Championships in 2009, Ciara Mageean has been hampered by severe injury. But the Portaferry native made good on her talent last July, with a 1,500m bronze medal at the European Championships in Amsterdam.

Q: Ten months on from Rio (Mageean was eliminated after finishing 11th in the 1500m semi-final), what was the biggest thing you took from that experience?

A: That a flower doesn’t bloom all year round — that was the major lesson. It’s hard to pinpoint when you’re going to peak and have your best performance, and for me it was in Paris [two weeks after the Olympics, where Mageean clocked a PB of 4:01.46]. Why that didn’t happen in Rio, I still don’t know, but it was a hard pill to swallow. I knew that wasn’t me in that semi-final, but you can’t beat yourself up. You dust yourself off and get ready for the next one.