Mark English just missed out on qualifying for his first-ever global final by finishing fourth in heat two of the men's 800m at the World Indoor Athletics championships in Torun, Poland on Saturday afternoon.
The Donegal man slotted into fifth position after the break, with British athlete Ben Pattinson controlling things at the front. English made a decisive move at the 500m mark, taking on the pace with a lap to run.
But the 33-year-old was swallowed up on the final bend and ran out of space, coming through on the inside on the home straight, crossing in 1:46.70.
Fast 8 Track club team-mate Peter Bol took the win with a time of 1:46.21 and Japan's Allon Tatsunami Clay took second spot in 1:46.47.
The indoor national record holder will likely be disappointed as he was ranked fifth in the world for the event this year, but the closely contested semi-finals had cut throat qualification, with only the top two qualifying and no non-automatic places for Sunday's final.
Lauren Roy progressed to the semi-final of the women's 60m as one of three fastest non-automatic qualifiers. The Antrim native ran 7.25 to finish fourth in heat two and had a nervy wait throughout the four remaining races to find out her fate.
Roy will have eight hours to rest and recover before the 60m semi-finals begin at 7:15pm Irish time, and becomes the first athlete since Molly Scott in 2022 to progress from the 60m heats at a world indoors.
She will occupy lane eight in semi-final three (7:30pm) and faces local favourite Ewa Swoboda and the 2024 silver medallist Patrizia van der Weken.
Ciara Neville made her return to individual international competition and was also fourth in her heat, clocking 7.31 seconds, which wasn’t quick enough to qualify for the semi-final.
Zaynab Dosso of Italy began her bid to complete her medal collection from the championships after winning bronze in 2024 and silver in 2025, progressing easily, running 7.07 seconds in heat one.
After getting advanced due to a disqualification, Maeve O'Neill found herself off the back in semi-final one of the women's 800m.
The Cork athlete positioned herself well at the break and finished in sixth position in 2:02.46, six tenths quicker than the time she ran in yesterday's heats.
The race was won by 21-year-old Australian Hayley Kitching in 2:00.06.
World indoor record holder Keely Hodgkinson was the fastest of the qualifiers to Sunday's final, running 1:58.53 in semi-final two. American Addy Wiley was just behind Hodgkinson, running a personal best of 1:58.75.
There was carnage for the first-ever running of the 4x400m mixed relay at a world indoors when Jamacia and the US clashed at the first change over allowing Belgium to streak away with the title in 3:15.60 after two athletes fell.
The United States' Sara Reifenrath ran her leg with only one shoe, and the country who typically dominate the long sprint relay ended up sixth - seven seconds adrift of the champions.
Spain and Poland completed the podium after Jamacia were disqualified for an illegal change over.
Listen to live updates from the World Athletics Championships on Saturday and Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1.
