Mark English has powered into tomorrow's 800m final at the World Athletics Ultimate Championship after winning his semi final in 1:43.74, the fastest time of the round.
The reigning European champion produced another superbly judged race at Budapest’s National Athletics Centre on Saturday evening, coming from fourth with 200m remaining to defeat a field containing Olympic silver medallist Marco Arop and Olympic bronze medallist Djamel Sedjati.
Drawn in lane four, English settled into third by the bell and stayed within striking distance as the pressure rose on the final lap. He had slipped back one position with 200m to run, but the Finn Valley AC athlete remained composed and saved his best work for the home straight.
English drove through in the closing metres to take victory in 1:43.74, just 0.06 seconds ahead of Italy’s Francesco Pernici, who clocked 1:43.80. Arop took third in 1:44.21, while Sedjati secured the fourth and final qualifying spot in 1:44.23.
The time was the fourth quickest 800m of English’s career and made him the fastest qualifier for the final. He was 0.12 seconds quicker than American Brandon Miller, who won the opening semi final in 1:43.86.
France’s Yanis Meziane followed Miller home in 1:44.07, with Belgium’s Eliott Crestan third in 1:44.09 and reigning Olympic and world champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi fourth in 1:44.43. The first four from each race advanced, leaving eight of the world’s leading two lap runners to fight for the title on Sunday.
There is nothing fluky about English reaching the final as the quickest man. The 33 year old is in the finest form of his career. He lowered his personal best to 1:42.97 at the London Diamond League in July before making Irish athletics history at the European Championships in Birmingham.
There, he broke a 48 year old championship record with 1:43.49 in the semi final before producing another perfectly timed finish to take gold in 1:45.26. It made him the first Irishman to win an individual European outdoor title.
English later opted to miss the Diamond League Final in Brussels and centre the remainder of his season on Budapest. That call has already been rewarded with a win over two members of the Paris Olympic podium and the fastest qualifying mark of the round.
The task now gets even harder. Sunday’s final brings English together with Wanyonyi, Arop, Sedjati, Miller, Pernici, Meziane and Crestan. There are Olympic and world medals throughout the field, but English will line up having beaten half of it and run faster than the rest on Saturday.
The men’s 800m final takes place at 7.41pm Irish time on Sunday. Two laps now stand between Mark English and the inaugural Ultimate Championship title, along with the event’s top prize of $150,000.
