English smashes national record with victory in Luxembourg

RECORD-BREAKER: Mark English of Finn Valley AC, Donegal.

Mark English carved half a second off his Irish indoor 800m record when powering to victory in 1:44.65 at the CMCM Luxembourg Indoor Meeting on Sunday afternoon.

The 32-year-old Donegal athlete ran a patient race, sitting off the pace in the opening half and striking the front entering the last turn – his time equalling the meeting record and smashing the national record of 1:45.15 that he’d run at the Millrose Games in New York last year.

It also secured the qualifying standard (1:45.90) for the World Indoors in March and is the joint-sixth fastest indoor time in history by a European, moving him joint-13th on the world all-time list indoors. It brought him home well clear of runner-up Maciej Wyderka of Poland (1:45.38).

It continues a fine start to the year for English, who opened his season last Wednesday with an Irish indoor 600m record, clocking 1:15.80 at the Track and Field Live meeting in Abbotstown. Prior to that, he had last raced at the World Championships in Tokyo four months ago, producing one of the best runs of his career to finish third in the 800m semi-final, but his time wasn’t quick enough to advance to the final.

Nonetheless it proved another breakthrough year for English, who won European Indoor bronze and broke his Irish record three times outdoors – the mark of 1:43.37 he ran in August later broken by Cian McPhillips, who ran 1:42.15 to finish fourth in the world 800m final. McPhillips will have his eyes on English’s 600m record when he lines up at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in Boston on Saturday. Both men will be targeting the World Indoors in Poland in March and will be on a collision course if both toe the line at next month’s nationals.

Emma Moore was also in action in Luxembourg and the Galway City Harrier again broke new ground over 800m, setting an Irish U-23 indoor record of 2:02.34 to finish second behind local athlete Fanny Arendt (2:00.83).

Elsewhere, Bori Akinola produced the standout performance at the AAI Games on Saturday, the UCD sprinter opening his season with victory over the 60m in 6.68, having run 6.69 earlier in the day.

In Lubbock, Texas, European U-20 400m champion Conor Kelly opened his season with a 300m PB of 33.93, finishing as runner-up and going second on the Irish all-time indoor list behind Jack Raftery’s 33.27. Lauren Roy moved third on the Irish 60m all-time list after smashing her PB at the same meeting, clocking 7.31 in the heats and 7.25 in the final. Only Rhasidat Adeleke (7.15) and Molly Scott (7.19) have gone quicker.