Mark English powers to victory in Beijing

It was an impressive display in his final tune-up race ahead of the World Championships.

IN FORM: Mark English has lowered the Irish outdoor 800m record three times this season. Pic: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile

Mark English produced a hugely impressive performance to take victory over 800m at the Continental Tour Gold meeting in Beijing on Sunday, the 32-year-old Donegal athlete clocking a meeting record of 1:44.67 in his final tune-up race ahead of the World Championships in Tokyo.

English, who has lowered the Irish outdoor 800m record three times this season, played a patient game through the race and moved from third to first over the final 60 metres, taking victory ahead of Spain’s Pablo Sanchez-Valladares (1:44.79), Kenya’s Wycliffe Kinyamal (1:44.86) and Belgium’s Pieter Sisk (1:45.20).

Having also broken his national record indoors this year, clocking 1:45.15 in New York, English went on to win bronze at the European Indoors in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands – the fifth European medal of his career. The win in Beijing was his third victory at Continental Tour Gold meetings during this outdoor season, which is one step down from the Diamond League, having earlier taken wins in Hengelo and Bydgoszcz.

Last month, English won his 10th national outdoor title in Santry and finished runner-up at another gold-level meeting in Budapest, hacking his Irish record down to 1:43.37, which ranks him 15th as he heads into the Tokyo World Championships.

English has yet to reach a global final but has been a semi-finalist on several occasions, his best result at the World Championships being his 10th-place finish in Oregon three years ago. But given his form on the circuit throughout the summer, he looks to have a decent chance of doing so in Tokyo.

The race in Beijing was his first competitive outing in almost a month, with English completing an altitude training camp in Sierra Nevada, Spain, during the intervening weeks. He is among the leading Irish hopes at the sport’s showpiece event of the year, which gets under way at the Japan National Stadium next Saturday.