Irish eyes will be on Andrew Coscoran later as he competes in the final of 1500m at the World Athletics Championships.
Team Ireland have had some great results so far in Japan, with Fionnuala McCormack coming home ninth in the marathon, Sarah Healy 10th in the women's 1500m and Nicola Tuthill 11th in the Hammer.
"What a performance, the race of his life," was how RTÉ Sport's David Gillick reacted to Coscoran's semi-final trackside.
"He put himself in contention and was tactically on it. He just worked so hard in that last 150 metres when it was so crowded."
And Coscoran knows he'll need another 'race of his life' to get into the medal conversation at the National Stadium in Tokyo.
The Balbriggan native came through Saturday's heats in sixth place in heat 4, in a race that saw two athletes fall.
Heat 4 had been the second fastest, ahead of two and three, but behind one, which was won by Norway's Narve Gilje Nordas, who claimed bronze in these championships two years ago in Budapest.
In the semis, Coscoran ran in the faster heat and came home fifth in a bunched finish, falling himself after the finish line in amongst a scramble of legs.
"There was nowhere I could go so I wanted to be on the inside as much as possible," he told RTÉ Sport afterwards.
"In the last 100 I felt I had a lot to give but there was nowhere to go. I was just trying to dip for the line between Jake (Wightman) on one side and I'm not sure who on the other side. I ended up clipping one of them so that's how I ended up tumbling. I got my shoulders across the line.
"I'm buzzing, absolutely buzzing."
🇮🇪 Andrew Coscoran reaches his first outdoor global final with storming finish fifth-place finish in a physical 1500m semi-final #RTESport
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) September 15, 2025
Coverage of the World Athletics Championships continues on @RTE2 and @RTEplayer
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It was good enough for the fifth fastest time of all the qualifiers, something which will undoubtedly give the 29-year-old confidence.
But this is a stacked field for the final.
Britain's Josh Kerr, the reigning champion, won silver at the Olympic Games in Paris last year and has the fastest PB in the field at 3:27.79. He is aiming to become the first athlete to defend his 1500m crown since Asbel Kiprop in 2015 (his third consecutive victory).
Timothy Cheruiyot won silver at Tokyo 2020, having taken gold at the 2019 World Championships in Doha, and has a PB of 3:28.28.
The fastest athlete of the 14 this season is Niels Laros of the Netherlands, with a time of 3:29.20.
Coscoran's PB is 3:30.42 so he is quite probably going to have to go faster than he ever has before to be in the hunt for a podium position.
Of the 14 runners, only Britain's Neil Gourley has a slower SB than the Dubliner this season, so the task ahead of Coscoran is monumental.
That said, what other way would it be in a world final? Coscoran is exactly where he wants to be and the challenge now is to really produce the goods at the exact right time.
Watch the World Athletics Championships with coverage on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player from 11.15am
