Ireland’s best medal hopes rest on 800m contenders
THE European Indoor Championships have traditionally been the happiest of hunting grounds for the Irish and, for the 23 athletes making the long, complicated trek to Torun, Poland, there’s every reason to think their medal hopes and the nation’s history in this event will once again rhyme.
Ireland has won 25 medals in the event’s 55-year history, 19 in middle-distance races and if anyone is to add to that haul this weekend, it’s almost certainly going to happen in the same disciplines.
The best chances, by far, will come in the men’s and women’s 800m, where Mark English, Síofra Cléirigh-Büttner and Nadia Power will all target places in Sunday’s finals before they entertain thoughts of medals. English has considerable form at course and distance, having won silver at this event in 2015 and bronze in 2019, and the 27-year-old is ranked sixth based on his Irish indoor record of 1:46.10 last month.
It’s been a rocky 12 months for the Donegal athlete, who had an utterly forgettable 2020, his best time of 1:48.42 almost four seconds shy of his personal best. But since moving to coach Feidhlim Kelly in the autumn he has bounced back to form in a big way, juggling athletics with his work as a doctor. He will open his campaign in the 800m heats tomorrow evening and while there’s astonishing depth in his event, English should have no trouble advancing to Saturday’s semi-final.
Cléirigh-Büttner has yet to win a major championship medal but this seems a gilt-edged chance for the 25-year-old Dubliner, who broke the Irish indoor 800m record last month with a 2:00.58 in Arkansas. That puts her third on the rankings here, but even securing place in the final will be tough.
Power had previously broken the record twice this season, clocking 2:02.44 in January and 2:00.98 last month on this track in Torun. A bronze medallist at the European U-23 Championships in 2019, she has championship calibre but a medal here will require a big step forward.
Polish duo Joanna Jozwik and Angelika Cichocka, along with British 18-year-old Keely Hodgkinson and Norway’s Hedda Hynne, have all broken two minutes and all four would, to any objective observer, be favoured over the Irish duo.
Struggled
Ciara Mageean remains the only Irishwoman to have broken two minutes but she ruled herself out earlier this week, having struggled to find form after recent setbacks, which dealt a big blow to Irish medal chances given the women’s 1500m is one of the weakest fields.
In the men’s 1500m, Andrew Coscoran looks capable of a big showing if the 24-year-old can reproduce the form that saw him clock 3:37.20 last month. Paul Robinson is another with great tactical speed and he will need every bit of it to reach tomorrow’s final, while 22-year-old Luke McCann will undoubtedly find it tough going in tonight’s heats in his first senior championship.
All three endured logistical headaches on the journey here with a
3am antigen test required at Dublin airport on Tuesday and a three-hour wait for a PCR test result once they arrived at Arena Torun 12 hours later.
Michelle Finn will also be in action in the 3000m heats this evening and it’s been a breakthrough year for the 31-year-old who set PBs over 1500m and 3000m.
Phil Healy is the only sprinter with a medal shot and key to her path to the final will be to learn the lesson of Glasgow 2019 where, in a bid to the get to the front at halfway in her semi-final, she emptied the tank too early and had nothing left for the finish.
Healy is ranked sixth on season’s bests via her 51.99 in Abbotstown last month, which will set her up for a tilt at the final here.