Perseverance pays off for a triumphant English

A bronze medal had never felt so sweet — victory in defeat, triumph in third place, and a glorious sense of redemption for Mark English.

The 25-year-old didn’t just want a medal at the European Indoor Championships over the weekend — he essentially needed it. To prove that any predictions about his talent fizzling away into obscurity were all-too premature, that his was a level of class that may be subject to fluctuations in form, but never outright extinction.