Ciara Mageean (UCD) showed her class to advance to the semi-finals of the women’s 1500m finishing second in her heat in 4:11.51.
Mageean cut a focused and determined figure afterwards in a race won by Ethiopia’s gold medal favourite Genzebe Dibaba in 4:10.61.
“If I didn’t think I’d qualify, I wouldn’t be here,” answered Mageean on qualifying for the semi-finals which take place on Sunday morning, 1.30am Irish time.
The Portaferry woman was pleased with her performance and also drew inspiration from the silver medal-winning rowing brothers Paul and Gary O’Donovan.
“It was great to see them medal and gives more motivation to perform at this level. I ran my own race and I just need to stay focused for the semi-finals.”
'I’m here to think about Ciara Mageean and what she can do in this vest' - the Down woman is determined! https://t.co/QKfPfsaCgl
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) August 13, 2016
World champion Genzebe Dibaba of Ethiopia won the heat with a time of 4:10.61, but it was Mageean who impressed on her Olympics debut.
Dibaba took control of the race on the last lap, pulling well clear of the field on her way to first place.
However, the Co Down athlete responded well, drawing away from the pack to comfortably finish second in 4:11:51.
Mageean will now be back in action early Monday morning.
One of Ireland’s leading athletes, the 24-year-old took bronze in the 1,500m at the recent European Championships in Amsterdam.
