Ciara Mageean smashes Sonia O’Sullivan’s Irish mile record in Monaco

The Irishwoman unleashed a huge kick down the home straight to finish runner-up and record a time well below the previous Irish record of 4:17.25.

NEW RECORD: Ireland’s Ciara Mageean celebrates. Pic Credit ©INPHO/Morgan Treacy

Ciara Mageean smashed Sonia O’Sullivan’s Irish mile record at the Monaco Diamond League tonight, clocking 4:14.58 to finish second behind the peerless Kenyan, Faith Kipyegon, who obliterated the world record with 4:07.64.

Mageean ran with the pack through much of the race as Kipyegon raced alone out front, then the Irishwoman unleashed a huge kick down the home straight to finish runner-up, her time putting her fifth on the world all-time list and well below the previous Irish record of 4:17.25, which O’Sullivan set in 1994. Mageean’s previous best was the 4:19.03 she ran in Monaco in 2019.

“I am really proud of myself for that,” she said. “I was very nervous but I knew that if I managed to push away all these worries, and just focused on my race, I could do it. I’m really glad I didn't fail. I’m in a really good place to go to the World Championships.”

Rhasidat Adeleke announced her arrival on the Diamond League stage with a fourth-place finish in the 400m, the 20-year-old Dubliner clocking 49.99. “It was probably a little poorly executed, I probably shouldn’t have went out so fast, but it was a good race, my first 400m in a while,” Adeleke told Athletics Weekly.

“It was very different (experience), it was interesting seeing all the big names. I’m looking forward to the next one.”

Natalia Kaczmarek of Poland took victory in 49.63, with USA’s Shamier Little second in 49.68 and Lieke Klaver of the Netherlands third in 49.99. Behind Adeleke in fifth was last year’s World bronze medallist, Sada Williams of Barbados. Race favourite Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone was a late withdrawal, her coach Bobby Kersee telling the LA Times earlier today that it was due to an issue with her knee.

Having decided to forgo her final year of eligibility at the University of Texas, signing a professional contract with Nike earlier this month, Adeleke made a promising start to the next chapter of her career, clocking 22.36 for 200m earlier this week in Hungary.

Her 49.99 in Monaco was a little down on her Irish record of 49.20, which she ran to win the NCAA title last month, though Adeleke took a break after that race and has since been building her fitness as she looks towards next month’s World Championships in Budapest.

She will race the 100m at next weekend’s national championships in Santry, where Phil Healy’s national record of 11.28 – the one Irish sprint record Adeleke has yet to break – looks under threat.

Sarah Lavin produced another fine performance to finish seventh in the 100m hurdles in 12.74, the Limerick athlete overcoming a shaky start to clock the second fastest time of her career, just down on the 12.73 she ran in Stockholm recently.

The race was won by USA’s Nia Ali – who’s coached by Dubliner John Coghlan – in a world lead of 12.30. Earlier in the night, Norway’s Karsten Warholm set a Diamond League record in the 400m hurdles of 46.51.