Ireland’s Mark English finished third in heat 6 of the men’s 800 metres at the Olympic Stadium today to qualify for the semi-finals.
Starting in lane 1, the UCD man drifted to the back of the field by the bell, but then began to climb through the field and finished strongly on the straight to qualify for tomorrow’s semis.
“I treated that race like a final. I’ll need to run 1:44 to make the final
A notable omission for the semis is London 2012 silver medallist Nijel Amos of Botswana, who finished fifth in heat 4 and so exits the competition.
The first three in each heat and three fastest losers qualify for the semi-finals, which take place tomorrow evening.
English ran a time of 1:46.40, while Brandon McBride (Canada) won the heat in 1:45.99 with European silver medallist Marcin Lewandowski (Poland) second in 1:46.35.
“You have to trust your own race plan and preparation went really well in Uberlandia (training camp),” said a composed English afterwards.
“The weather was good in Uberlandia and I practised getting up early in the morning to get ready for the race.”
“I was nervous beforehand but you want that adrenaline.
“I treated that race like a final. I’ll need to run 1:44 to make the final.”
English was the first of our track athletes to take part in these Olympics, but will be closely followed by Alex Wright in the men’s 20km walk at 6.30pm, while Ciara Mageean takes part in the women’s 1,500m heat 1 at 12.30am.
