Mageean aiming to maintain her record-breaking form in Sweden
Striding on: Ciara Mageean has broken two Irish records
MIDDLE distance star Ciara Mageean will go for her third Irish record in just over a month in Sunday’s Stockholm Grand Prix Diamond League meeting.
The Portaferry woman is to race over her favoured 1,500m in Sweden and will line up against familiar foes.
The 28-year-old World Championship finalist will take on no fewer than four other competitors who also took part in last October’s memorable final in Doha, where four national records were set.
The quartet includes silver medallist Faith Kipyegon of Kenya, who set a national record over 1,000m in Monaco last week. Mageean finished third in an Irish record of two minutes, 31.06 seconds which broke Sonia O’sullivan’s 27-year-old record.
Also in the field is Laura Muir, who was fifth in Doha and set a GB national record in Monaco by finishing only a quarter of a second ahead of Mageean.
Another in-form athlete is Kenyan treble world title holder Helen Obiri, who ran a worldbest this season of 14.22 over 5,000m in Monaco.
Other notable Africans lining up are Winny Chebet, who was seventh in Doha, and Commonwealth Games 800m bronze medallist Winnie Nanyondo.
Such world-class opposition will not deter Mageean.
In addition to her 1,000m record, the double European medallist last month became the first Irish woman to break two minutes in the 800m with a time of 1.59.69.
In Stockholm, the Lisburn AC athlete will almost certainly tuck in close to the leaders before attempting to close them down.
This tactic has worked perfectly recently and could do so again given her red-hot form.
Meanwhile, Athletics Ireland have confirmed that the latest coronavirus restrictions will not prevent the Irish Life Health Senior Track and Field Championships from starting this weekend at Santry, Dublin.
The meeting, behind closed doors, will extend over four sessions and two weekends to comply with social distancing rules.