Bronze medal for Ciara Mageean in the Euro Indoors in Glasgow
04 March 2019
It was a great night for Northern Irish athletes at the European Indoor Championships in Glasgow when Ciara Mageean rose to the occasion and fulfilled expectations by securing a bronze medal in her 1500m event.
This was a particularly sweet moment for City of Lisburn AC's Mageean who had previously secured her first ever outdoor European bronze in Amsterdam in 2016 but finished just out of the medals in 4th in the Berlin Europeans last year.
The 26 year old was always in the mix last night in the latter half of the race which was dominated by defending champion Laura Muir. With 600 metres left Ciara raced into second. She and Euro outdoor silver medallist Sofia Ennaoui of Poland then opened a huge gap on the athletes behind.
It was a battle to the finish line between the two ladies, which ended with Sofia taking silver in 4.09.30 and Ciara in Bronze, only 0.13 secs behind.
An overjoyed Ciara said:
"I am delighted to bring this medal to Portaferry. My aim was to win a medal here and I've done that. I knew I was in good shape and I laid it all out there by running 100%. I said I was going to finish this race with a smile. Sofia is a tough competitor but I fought her all the way. Athletics is about peaks and troughs and I will always take the peaks like tonight."
Team Ireland had a double celebration, as Ulster Athlete, Mark English also enhanced his stellar career with his 3rd European medal over 800m. In an exciting 800m final the UCD medical student dug deep to hang on to Bronze in a time of 1 min 47.39 secs behind winner Alvaro de Arriba of Spain (1.46.83) and surprise runner up Jamie Webb of GB who ran a PB of 1.47.13.
The Letterkenny man's Euro haul also includes a Euro Outdoor bronze in 2014 in Zurich and an Indoor silver in Prague the following year.
In the Women's 60 metres heats City of Lisburn AC's Lauren Roy made her Senior debut. She finished 7th in her race in 7.62 secs.
Also making his Senior debut was Annadale Striders’ Conall Kirk. He came 6th in his heat of the Men’s 800m in a time of 1:50.50secs.
18 year old, Commonwealth Athlete, Sommer Lecky (Finn Valley AC) cleared 1.75m in her first Senior European competition against a strong field of athletes.
Elsewhere this weekend…
Meanwhile Springwell Running Club’s Ciara Toner won the 1,300 strong Derry 10 Mile Road Race on Saturday 2nd March 2019. Ciara took first place in a time of 1:01.01, while Clonliffe Harriers’ David Flynn took 1st place in the Men’s event in a time of 52mins and 15secs.
Home Club, City of Derry Spartan AC’s Catherine Whoriskey took 2nd place in the Women’s event crossing the line in a time of 1:03.09. Ballycastle Runners’ Gemma McDonald took 3rd place in a time of 1:03.58.
In the Men’s event, it was Gary Slevin (Unattached) who took 2nd place in a time of 53:43, with Foyle Valley AC’s Craig Simpson close behind in 54:18.
See the full results here.