Ciara Mageean joins an exclusive club of Irish greats

SILVER: Ciara Mageean of Ireland celebrates with her silver medal after finishing second in the Women's 1500m Final during day 9 of the European Championships 2022 at the Olympiastadion in Munich, Germany. Pic: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

Sonia. Derval. And now Ciara Mageean.

She may not be at the stage yet where the surname is superfluous but Mageean joined a very exclusive club last night when she became just the third Irish athlete to earn more than the one medal at an outdoor European Championships.

The silver she laid claim to here represented one step up on the podium from the bronze bagged in Amsterdam six years ago but there was more to this than the height of her step. This was about an astonishingly gutsy and classy performance as she went toe to toe with Great Britain’s great Laura Muir.

“It’s good company, being in with those two fantastic ladies,” said the Portaferry woman when told of the bond she now shares with two of Cork’s finest. And she returned to the significance of what that sort of company meant to her some minutes later.

“I went into the (Sports) Institute while (Derval) was being treated and it was like, ‘oh my God, it’s Derval O’Rourke’ and being in awe of her being there. I can remember meeting Sonia the first few times and being starstruck so think that I am up there in a similar realm to them is very humbling.” 

Mixing it with the best is her thing now.

Muir is a world-class athlete, a 29-year old at the height of her significant powers, and she had claimed gold ahead of Mageean in the Commonwealth Games at this same distance only a wet week ago when she pulled away with some ease. The Irish woman was ready for her this time, as Muir suspected she would be.

“I knew she was in really good shape and she proved it,” said the Tokyo 2020 silver medallist. “I knew today she'd know what I was going to do so I'd lost that element of surprise. I knew she was going to stick on me and, being tired today, I'd have to run very, very well to beat her."

Assiduous in her prep, Mageean had visualised every scenario in the long three days since her semi-final so she responded instantly, instinctively, when Muir injected the pace again and threatened to kick into a significant lead with two laps still to go. The crowd saw this too and roared their appreciation.

It was on.

The Briton eventually started to burn her off as they turned towards the home straight to win in a time of 4:01.08 but Mageean’s 4:02.56 – a season’s best - left her more than a second ahead of Poland’s Sofia Ennaoui who had finished fifth to Muir’s third at the World Championships in Oregon earlier this summer.

What a pair to split. And what a stage to do it on.

Everything had been shaped and shifted from the start of the season to facilitate her medal chase this summer. She had skipped the World Championships in Oregon on that very basis. This was her time, Birmingham and Munich her chosen stages, and she fulfilled her wish here to drape a tricolour over her shoulders in celebration.

"It’s everything I want, to see that Irish flag raised."

The competitor she is, she couldn’t help but think ahead, even as she made her way up the tunnel and back to the sheds. She spoke about how she has honed her craft at the 1,500 this season, and how she could improve again and go under the sub-four minutes if the right race could only just come along.

Happy but unsated. Not everyone can strike that balance.

“I thought going up the home straight, maybe this would be my day,” she explained. “It’s what I wrote in my training diary today. My time will come, I sure as hell tried. I fell a little short of gold but I can’t be disappointed, I laid it all bare on the track.” 

Context helps here.

She turned 30 this year and that has prompted an appreciation of the time she has left on the track. The calf injury she suffered a week before last year’s Olympics has only reinforced the need to savour nights like these. There was a time when she struggled with the bright lights, now she revels in them.

“Letting that sink in, hearing the crowd roar and being able to smile: it’s taken me a long time to figure that out and I know there are some other athletes learning to figure out nerves and all that stuff and it has taken me a long time to get to where I am today.” 

Mark English has had tough days too. What athlete hasn’t?

Yesterday wasn’t among them.

The Donegal doctor was on duty immediately before Mageean and his two rounds of the Olympiastadion track made for the perfect opening act by sealing his place in Sunday’s final of the men’s 800m with a second smooth run of the week.

A former European bronze medalist himself, he came in comfortably behind Mariano Garcia of Spain and Great Britain’s Jake Wightman to claim the third automatic place with a time of 1:46.66 and he will be aiming for another podium visit in what is a very open race.

If it looked comfortable then it was and it wasn’t.

“It was a tough race because there was a lot of surging … but I’d like to give those guys another shot in the final.” 

He’ll get it. Finish top three on Sunday and that exclusive club will have its first male member.