Mark English will run in the 800m final at the European Athletics Indoor Championships on Sunday evening after coming through third in his semi-final.
Ten years after he won silver at the European Indoors, English finished his semi-final at Omnisport, Apeldoorn in 1:45.89 to seal a place in the final.
The Finn Valley AC man showed every ounce of his experience and big race nous around four laps of the arena.
Roared on down the back straight by a big Irish support, English was nestled in third for much of the race.
English was third at the 200m mark and was still there at the halfway point. With the bell ringing and the sound lifting, English began to come under pressure, but he held real nerve in a brilliant last lap that was sheer track craft from the Letterkenny native.
The 31-year-old set off from lane 5 and the maths were simple here: A top three place was the only finish that would earn a place in the final.
There were eight men lining up in six lanes as a result of the reinstatements of Ireland’s Cian McPhillips – who was seventh in the first semi-final, going 1:47.40 – and Poland’s Bartosz Kitlinski following a messy heat on Friday morning. The already-thin margins were tighter and tenser.
Belgium’s Eliott Crestan, the bronze medallist at the last edition of these Championships in Istanbul two years ago – and the World Indoor bronze medal winner last year – won the heat in 1:45.84 with Netherlands’ Samuel Chapple delighting his home crown when nosing in second.
In his own heat on Friday, English came through in 1:46.42 for second in a race that was far from a breeze. English was given an opening when Tibo de Smet of Belgium moved out of the inside lane and the Donegal man took the moment.
He put his foot on the gas to get in behind Patrick Sieradzki, whose win in that heat underlined English’s feelings about the unpredictability of 800m running these days.
Ten years to the day, English won silver at the 2015 edition of these Championships when second to Marcin Lewandowski of Poland at the O2 Arena in Prague. Then, English edged Thijmen Kipers of Netherlands by 0.05 of a second to take the second spot on the podium – seven months after he collected European outdoor bronze at the Letzigrund in Zurich.
English skipped the National Indoors on the advice of his physio, but arrived in Netherlands having set a new Irish indoor record at the Millrose Games in February. English ran 1:45.15 and followed up with another sub-1:46 when going 1:45.82 in Liévin, France, five days later.
English has already won four European medals, including two indoors.
Another one now is four laps away.
