Mark English produces 800m lifetime best to finish sixth in World Ultimate Championship final

Mark English of Ireland finishes sixth in the men's 800m final on day three of the World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest. Pic: Martin Rickett/PA Wire.

He’d done all he could, extracting every last joule of energy from his legs, and in the end it was good enough for sixth place in the 800m final at the World Ultimate Championship in Budapest.

Mark English’s time, 1:42.78, was the fastest of his life, bringing the 33-year-old home less than a second behind the victorious Djamel Sedjati of Algeria (1:41.91). 

The top three was a replica of the 2024 Olympic final and 2025 world final, just arranged in a different order, with Canada’s Marco Arop second in 1:42.28 and Kenya’s Emmanuel Wanyonyi third in 1:42.44.

English, whose previous best was the 1:42.97 from London in July, was just a few metres behind them, producing a superb display after a long, exhausting season that saw him scale a golden peak at the Europeans in Birmingham last month.

“I said yesterday I’d be happy whether I finished first or eighth and to come away with a PB as well is a great bonus,” he said. “I’ll leave the fast times to the younger guys and I’ll win European titles and make world finals – I’m happy with that. It’s probably one of the fastest finals ever, so it’s a privilege to be a part of.” 

There could be no regrets here, just deep, lasting pride at having reached his first senior global final. 

With his medical career on hold in recent years, English has reaped clear benefits from the higher-volume training he is now doing as a full-time athlete. 

And there could be plenty of distance left to run in his career.

Arop set a wicked tempo from the start, passing 200m in 24.01, 400m in 49.67 and 600m in 1:15.32 – that’s world record pace. 

English’s plan was to run by feel, let that internal clock be his guide as to where he should position himself, and so he sat off it, passing 400m one second behind Arop in seventh. 

He moved up to sixth by 600m but couldn’t claw back any more places in the home straight.

“The goal was to try to get the most out of my body as I knew it’d be a fast race,” he said. “I’m happy with that. I ran a PB and you can never not be happy when you run a PB.” 

English had powered to victory in his semi-final the previous day but admitted the caffeine he’d taken ahead of that left him unable to sleep until 4am. 

“It’s always tough coming back but I’m happy with it, and happy with the season,” he said.

As for what comes next? English will go on holidays and reflect on his future. “But as years go, this has been my best year so you have to take stock of that,” he said.

“At 33, I don’t take it for granted. There’s plenty of things that could happen. I could get injured, life could come up, you don’t know what can happen. To be in those races, running those times, finishing in those places, it’s a real privilege.” 

He was asked about running his best now, at 33, and whether he could have done anything differently if he were to go back 10 years.

“I would have ramped up the mileage more, gradually, over the years,” he said. “I would have gone away altitude training a lot, but it’s hard to do those things when you’re working or studying as I was for the last 10 years. But look, that’s looking back and I don’t want to do that, I’ll stay in the present and look forward as much as I can.” 

And there should be lots more to look forward to.

Meanwhile, Rhasidat Adeleke faced disappointment in the women’s 200m semi-finals, the Dubliner clocking 22.81 (0.7m/s) to finish fifth, one place shy of a spot in the final and well off the Irish record of 22.28 she ran to win European silver last month.

Drawn in lane three, Adeleke didn’t get off to a good start and was seventh and last at the halfway mark, but battled back into contention over the latter half, coming up less than a tenth of a second shy of a place in the final. 

She finished 10th overall, earning $8,000 in prize money. She declined to speak to the media afterwards.

In the final, USA’s Melissa Jefferson-Wooden produced a spectacular run to move third on the all-time list, clocking 21.47 into a 0.6m/s headwind. 

Her training partner Kenny Bednarek also completed a sprint double by winning the men’s 200m in 19.52. 

Both are coached by Dennis Mitchell, a controversial figure in athletics who served a doping ban during his own career.