Mark English’s Olympic Games came to an end when he finished fifth in a highly competitive men’s 800m semi-final in Rio.
The Donegal native battled back strongly to clock a time of 1:45.93 in the third semi-final, in a race won by 2012 Olympic champion and world record holder David Rudisha.
The 23-year-old, pitted in lane one and in a formidable field, drifted to the rear of the field early on as the Kenyan runner eased to the front to take control of proceedings.
English showed all his resilience to pass Hamada Mohamed, Amine Belfarer and Italian Giordano Benedetti down the stretch in a time that was just outside his seasonal best and 17th overall.
“I wanted to go out there and have no regrets,” he said afterwards.
“I did the best race I could. It was always going to be tough running two races in two days.” The UCD medicine student had missed an important part of training in the build-up due to injury.
“I’m always looking to better myself and I focus on the process,” he concluded afterwards and confirmed he will continue to race for the rest of the season.
Rudisha’s time was bettered by Frenchman Pierre-Ambroise Bosse in the first semi-final while fellow Kenyan Alfred Kipketer also flexed his muscles by winning his semi-final in a time of 1:44.38.
