Breaking Sonia O’Sullivan’s mark now Ciara Mageean’s target
Breaking Sonia O’Sullivan’s 24-year-old Irish 1500m record is one of the key things keeping Ciara Mageean motivated while drug scandals continue to haunt and damage her sport.
Dutch star Sifan Hassan claimed the World 1500m title earlier this month in a remarkable 3.51.36.
Mageean knocked over a second off her own PB to run a life-time best of 4:00.15 but still only came 10th.
“I’ll never get to 3:51 as a clean athlete,” the Down star said.
“I can’t make up nine seconds. What I do cleanly, there’s not nine seconds in me,” she stressed at the launch of Circle K’s new ‘Here for Ireland’ initiative for Olympic and Paralympic athletes ahead of Tokyo 2020.
“Within my realm, what would I dream of? It’s probably more realistic to beat Sonia’s national record. If I could get down to 3:57 I would walk away from my athletics career extremely happy,” she revealed.
The Cobh legend’s national 1500m record of 3:58:85 still stands from 1995 (Monaco) and its quality is underlined by the fact no Irish woman has since broken four minutes.
Mageean came agonisingly close in Doha and makes no bones about the frustration of running clean while her sport is repeatedly tainted by drug scandals, like Alberto Salazar (Hassan’s coach) getting banned during the recent World Championships.
“It is disheartening when you go out and doubt other people (are) of the same moral standing as you but I can’t dwell on that too much because I can’t control it,” Mageean added.
She may yet skip the European Cross-Country Championships in early December due to the toll of Doha, including its later-than-usual timing.
“I’m only just starting training and really feeling it. If Europeans (Cross-Country) comes too soon and I’m not fit enough I won’t do it,” she said. “I have to see how it goes and talk to Steve (Vernon, coach) and then get in touch with Athletics Ireland because I did express an interest in it.
“I’d absolutely love to get out racing but I’d have to be in the right shape because our focus is all on Tokyo (2020 Olympics).”
Jordan Lee, the one-handed Killarney teenager who played U15 basketball for Ireland before switching to para-high jump in 2017, was also at yesterday’s launch.
Lee (19) has deferred his studies in IT Tralee to train full-time for Tokyo 2020 and will compete in his first World Para-Athletics Championships in Dubai next month off the back of some great form.
He beat the reigning European and Asian champions when winning the French Grand Prix with a personal best of 1.92m this summer.
“There was a lot of pressure involved as I’d increased my PB by 11cm this year alone,” he said. “It was a test of whether I was going to perform under the pressure or buckle so I’m delighted that I performed so well and am very excited about World Championships.”
Supporters can help their local Olympic/Paralympic hopefuls by scanning their loyalty tag or App for purchases at Circle K garages which will generate digital coins for the athletes who can redeem them for fuel or food.
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