Mark English was delighted with the backing Irish athletics has seen from Ireland and Donegal alike as he returned from the European Championships to a crowded Finn Valley Centre.
The Finn Valley AC man won bronze in the 800m in Munich on Sunday, his fourth time winning a European medal.
And at his homecoming celebration earlier, he was delighted how people got behind the sport.
English said: “It’s brilliant to see how many people tuned into our sport. I obviously love our sport I watch everything related to it but it’s brilliant to see that it gives them such a lift as well.”
English was well positioned in the 800m final coming around the final bend and he was happy the final went almost exactly to plan.
“Looking back on the race the one point I was happy that it turned out how it did was about 120 to 130 metres left in the race (Elliot) Crestan gave me just enough room to get through.
“My plan was to follow on the heels of Garcia for the last lap and I knew that he would pull away and it would be fine for the win so I knew that was a good place to be.”
It’s been eight years since he won a medal at the European outdoors but after his performance at the World Championship in Oregon, he knew he was in with a chance at getting back to his best.
English was 0.2 of a second off qualifying for the final of the World Championships, and was also less than a tenth of a second off his Personal Best in the same Championships.
He added: “I knew I hadn’t produced my best self and it was just about trying to produce that. I’ve medalled before so if I produced my best self I knew I could do it again.
“I finished the third European (at the World Championships) and that motivated me a lot because it said I’m back at that level again, and it was a good opportunity to medal again.”
Mark is competing again in Italy next Tuesday as he winds down the season with a couple more races before getting ready for a shot at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest.
