Ciara Mageean hoping to grasp the chance she's been waiting for

The 31-year-old goes into Tuesday night’s showdown in the form of her life, having conserved energy while coasting through the rounds on Saturday and Sunday

WELL PLACED: Ciara Mageean of Ireland after qualifying for the women's 1500m final. Pic: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile

One step left, but it’s a huge one. For Ciara Mageean and Rhasidat Adeleke, this is the chance they’ve been waiting for, training for – two finals over the next two nights that will have so many back home gathered around screens, screaming the house down, hoping either might win Ireland its first World Championship medal on the track for 28 years. It’s not probable, but it is possible.

On Tuesday Mageean has her chance. Wednesday it’s Adeleke’s. By Thursday, there’s every chance either will have joined Sonia O’Sullivan and Eamonn Coghlan as the only Irish athletes to win track medals in the 40-year history of this event, with race walkers Olive Loughnane, Gillian O’Sullivan, and Rob Heffernan having done so on the roads.