European Indoor Championships: Paul Robinson makes it an impressive start for Ireland

THUMBS UP: Ireland’s Paul Robinson was thrilled with his performance after finishing third in his heat of the Men’s 1500m during the European Indoor Athletics Championships in Torun, Poland, last night. Robinson and countryman Andrew Coscoran both qualified for tonight’s 1500m final. Picture: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile

Paul Robinson and Andrew Coscoran got Ireland’s European Indoor Championships off to a great start after both qualified for Friday’s 1500m final.

And as Robinson put it, shortly after qualifying in Torun, Poland, “you’re dangerous when you’ve nothing to lose.”

The two 1500m Irish hopefuls advanced from their heats despite vicious qualification criteria. Coscoran finished third in his heat in 3:39.00 to advance on time, and minutes later Robinson did likewise, his third-place finish in the final in 3:40.07 taking him through. Luke McCann was eliminated after a brave run that saw him finish fifth in 3:41.25.

In the final, all eyes will be on Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen, who should coast to gold, but the race for silver and bronze is wide open.

“It couldn’t have gone any better for me,” said Robinson. “I’m buzzing. We’ve one of the greatest runners nearly of all time in the final so it’d take a very, very bad day for him and a very, very good day for me and then you might have a one-percent chance, but I’m buzzing just to be in it. Anything can happen in a final. I’m ready to rock and roll.”

Coscoran believed he hung too far back in his heat early on. “I left that too late,” he said. “I stayed out of trouble for the first 1100 metres, stayed relaxed and present and with 400 to go I just attacked it. I’m not exactly happy with it but I’m not raging.”

Michelle Finn turned in a typically battling performance in the heats of the 3000m, but her ninth-place finish in 9:05.44 was not enough to advance.

For all that Irish athletics has been on a high of late, with records falling with astonishing frequency, the only true currency that matters in this sport is medals.

For the majority of the 23-strong Irish team at this weekend’s European Indoor Championships in Torun, Poland, such prized assets will remain a distant dream, but for a select handful, they’re very much a viable reality.

In scanning the start lists and trying to find those most likely to bring home some excess baggage, the best place to start is with a man who has been there and done that twice before.

Mark English won 800m silver at this event in 2015 and bronze in 2019, and the 27-year-old Donegal athlete not only has the physical gifts to fear few in this realm — he’s got the tactical nous, physicality, and self-assuredness to handle whatever is thrown his way.

In truth, indoor middle-distance running is virtually a different sport to its better-known outdoor sibling. Steve Ovett once likened it to running around a “bathtub without the faucets” and in that elbows-out environment, it’s often the wisest, most aggressive athlete, and not necessarily the fastest, who makes it home in front.

It’s been a rocky past 12 months for English, who had an utterly forgettable 2020, his best time of 1:48.42 almost four seconds shy of his personal best, with aches and pains keeping his true ability shackled and his work as an intern doctor at the Mater Hospital in Dublin often leaving him too exhausted to train at an optimum level.

But since moving to coach Feidhlim Kelly in the autumn he has bounced back to form in a big way, and in his sole competitive outing this year he broke his seven-year-old Irish indoor record, clocking 1:46.10 which puts him sixth fastest of those who made it to Torun.

What stood out most in that Abbotstown race was English’s competitive instinct, the presence of 18-year-old Longford star Cian McPhillips forcing him to search deep in a suitcase of courage for an extra effort up the straight.

English is not one of those athletes who thrives in time trials, but throw him into a championship race devoid of pacemakers and his competitive urges kick in, his tactical awareness as sharp as his finishing speed is swift.

But the reality is this year’s European Indoors has gathered a field of such depth that a medal remains an outside chance. He’ll face former world outdoor champion Pierre Ambroise-Bosse, former world indoor champion Adam Kszczot and Britain’s Jamie Webb, who scorched a stunning 1:44.54 last month.

There is a big chance English won’t make Sunday’s final, and he may even be at risk in his heat Friday given only the first three to advance and it contains three other potential medallists in Bosse, Thijmen Kupers of the Netherlands, and Patryk Dobek of Poland.

McPhillips, at 18, remains the unknown quantity in the Irish team, and despite running English right to the line in that Abbotstown race, few will expect him to make a major impact at his first senior championship, the key being to gather experience and return in the future with bigger intentions.

In the women’s 800m, Irish trio Síofra Cléirigh-Buttner, Nadia Power, and Georgie Hartigan will all be targeting a place in the final but qualification will be cutthroat from the outset in this afternoon’s heats.

Cléirigh-Buttner has yet to win a major championship medal but this seems a gilt-edged chance for the 25-year-old Dubliner, who broke the Irish indoor 800m record last month with a 2:00.58 in Arkansas.

That puts her third on the rankings here.

Power had previously broken the Irish record twice this season, clocking 2:02.44 in January and 2:00.98 last month on this track in Torun.

A bronze medallist at the European U23 Championships in 2019, she has championship calibre but a medal here will require a big step forward.

Polish duo Joanna Jozwik and Angelika Cichocka, along with British 18-year-old Keely Hodgkinson and Norway’s Hedda Hynne, have all broken two minutes and all four would, to any objective observer, be favoured over the Irish. Ciara Mageean remains the only Irishwoman to have broken two minutes but she ruled herself out earlier this week, having struggled to find form after recent setbacks, which dealt a big blow to Irish medal chances given the women’s 1500m is one of the weakest fields.

Phil Healy will open her championships in the women’s 400m Friday morning and the Bandon AC athlete should have little difficulty finishing in the top two to automatically advance to this evening’s semi-final, though she will likely end up in a tough race with Swiss athlete Lea Sprunger to win and secure a favourable lane draw. Healy is ranked sixth fastest in the overall field courtesy of her PB of 51.99 from Abbotstown last month, and she has a realistic shot at a place in Saturday’s final, though it seems highly likely that Dutch duo Femke Bol and Lieke Klaver along with Polish star Justyna Swiety-Ersetic will have a lock on the medals.

For the first time ever, Ireland has a full complement of six sprinters in the 60-metre races, and Leon Reid looks to have the best chance among them.

The Menapians sprinter clocked a PB of 6.68 to win in Abbotstown recently and he should be able to advance from his heat Saturday morning, though a place in the final will likely prove beyond him.

Israel Olatunde will make his senior championship debut and the 18-year-old will be looking to improve on the Irish U20 and U23 records of 6.73 he ran in Abbotstown a fortnight ago.

Ciara Neville will likely prove best of the Irish trio in the women’s 60m, the Emerald AC sprinter opening her season in fine style in January with two personal bests, and if she is fully recovered from a recent niggle she could threaten the Irish record of 7.27, which is held by Amy Foster.