English & Travers Through To Final At European Indoor Athletics Championships

European outdoor 800m Bronze Medallist Mark English (UCD AC) has secured his place in tomorrow's final at the European Indoor Athletics Championships finishing second in 1.50.54 to Britain's Guy Learmoth who ran 1:50.50. English had placed himself well throughout the race just off the shoulder of the race leader and was poised to make a move when the pace shifted up a gear with 150m to go.

Speaking after the race English said: "That was different (from yesterday's race) there was a real burn up and it came down to the fast finishes in the end. I have been practising that speed all winter and spring and thankfully I had enough to hold off the guys. The British guy Learmoth came through strong at the end but I am still hopefully going into tomorrow's final"

Well there was no joy for Declan Murray (Clonliffe Harrier AC) he did ran a solid race to finish fifth in a season's best of 1:48.09. In the women's 800m semi-final Ciara Everard (UCD AC) finished sixth in 2.06.14. The Kilkenny woman was unable to reproduce the form she had shown in the heats when she produced a season's best of 2.02.54 to finish third. Speaking after the race she said: "I am really disappointed with that I didn't have it in my legs from the get go." She added "It such a messy race there was so many surges of pace."

John Travers
Earlier in the day John Travers (Dunore Harriers) finished third in his 1500m heat in a personal best of 3:41.37, to secure the only fastest qualifiers spot available for the final which takes place tomorrow at 15.30. "I was really happy with the way I ran the race, I passed Diego Ruiz on the home straight which is a good scalp to get and it was probably my best championship race so far," Travers said.

While Danny Mooney (Letterkenny AC) was 6th in 3:48.96 in his heat which wasn't enough to progress