CIARA MAGEEAN CLOCKED her third fastest time over 800m to seal a fifth place finish at Tuesday’s 59th Golden Spike meet in the Czech city of Ostrava.
The Down native, who become the first Irish woman to break two minutes f0r 800m in July, clocked 2:01.40 in the Czech Republic.
Scotland’s Laura Muir finished in a season’s best of 1:58.84, while Poland’s Sofia Ennaoui (2:00.82) and Ethiopia’s Alemu Habitam (2:01.06) completed the top three.
Meanwhile Ireland’s Sarah Healy finished 12th in the women’s 1,500m, running a time of 4:17.60. Kenyan reigning Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon completed the race in 3:59.05, becoming the second woman this year to go under four minutes.
Elsewhere, Norway’s Karsten Warholm failed in his bid to set a new world record in the men’s 400m hurdles.
The 24-year-old is in electric form and in Stockholm two weeks ago came within 0.09 seconds of Kevin Young’s long-standing world record of 46.78sec which the American set at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
A false start did not help matters in Ostrava, where Warholm blasted off to his usual fast start at the second time of calling.
But the two-time world champion flagged coming through for victory at the line, clocking 47.62sec.
“It’s always nice to get a win,” the 24-year-old Norwegian told reporters.
“Today I was a bit surprised by the time to be honest, I actually thought it was faster.”
“But this is sport and… you’ve got to take whatever you get,” Warholm said, refusing to blame the false start.
“You don’t want this of course, but it’s part of the game.”
But he admitted he had to adjust his pace in the final turn of the race.
“There is nothing dramatic about it, I needed to do a switch and maybe that was what cost me a good time today,” said Warholm.
“Everything that ruins the rhythm is bad for the sake of time of course.”
Warholm only agreed to run at Ostrava last week after weighing carefully the pros and cons of competing in the eastern Czech steel hub during the coronavirus pandemic.
“We are starting to get used to it, this is our third meet and I think we’re very good at doing the right decisions and being smart considering the virus,” he said.
“I have a plan about going to Rome for the Diamond League (on September 17) but time will show.”
Elsewhere in Ostrava, two-time Olympic triple jump champion Christian Taylor cleared a world-leading 17.46 metres in his final jump, beating Fabrice Zango Hugues by four centimetres.
In men’s pole vault, Ernest John Obiena from the Philippines stole the show from the likes of Renaud Lavillenie, Sam Kendricks and Thiago Braz, taking the honours for 5.74 metres.
Finally, Nadia Power has set a new Irish U23 record in Rovereto, Italy tonight running 2:01.01 finishing third in the international field.
Power a U23 European medallist in 2019, smashed her previous best of 2:02.39. The Irish record of 2:01.89 by Aoife Byrne has stood since 2001. The time also moves Power to sixth in the Irish all-time list.
-Additional reporting from Kevin O’Brien
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