There is a huge air of anticipation around the Irish team ahead of tonight’s European Athletics Championships finals, with Mark English and Rhasidat Adeleke both carrying genuine medal hopes into a potentially historic evening in Birmingham.
The excitement follows yesterday's two outstanding semi final victories, as English broke the Championship Record over 800m before Adeleke produced her finest 200m performance in two years.
English delivered one of the greatest performances of his career in the men’s 800m, powering clear down the home straight to win in 1:43.49.
The time broke one of the longest standing records in European Championships history. East Germany’s Olaf Beyer had held the mark for 48 years after running 1:43.84 to defeat Steve Ovett and Sebastian Coe in the famous 1978 final in Prague.
English took 0.35 seconds off that record in a semi final, underlining the scale of his performance and adding considerably to the anticipation ahead of tonight’s medal decider. The four time European medallist now enters the final as one of Ireland’s strongest hopes of reaching the podium.
Watch Mark English win his 800m semi final below.
Adeleke then provided another major boost for Ireland with a superb victory in the women’s 200m semi finals.
The 23 year old attacked the bend and carried that momentum into the home straight, holding off Germany’s Fabienne Hoincke and Britain’s Success Eduan to win in 22.43.
It was a substantial season’s best for Adeleke and the second fastest time recorded across the three semi finals. It was arguably her best race in nearly two years.
Watch Rhasidat Adeleke win her 200m semi final below.
Those two performances have raised expectations considerably ahead of tonight. English already has five European medals to his name, while Adeleke is chasing her second inidividual senior European medal.
English will contest the men’s 800m final at 9.28pm, before Adeleke lines up in the women’s 200m final at 9.50pm. With two of Ireland’s leading athletes competing for medals within the space of just 22 minutes, the closing stages of tonight’s programme could provide another special chapter for Irish athletics.
