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Ciara Mageean (L) and Rhasidat Adeleke. INPHO
Irish Eye

In-form Mageean and teenage star Adeleke reach finals at European Championships

Tallaght’s Adeleke will race in her 400m final tomorrow, with Portaferry’s Mageean back out in the 1500m decider on Friday.

LAST UPDATE | Aug 16th 2022, 3:00 PM

CIARA MAGEEAN HAS advanced to the 1500m final at the European Championships after an impressive run in her semi-final, while teenage sensation Rhasidat Adeleke has also made it through to the 400m showpiece in Munich.

The in-form Mageean, buoyed by her recent silver medal at the Commonwealth Games, finished second in a season’s best time of 4:03.03.

The Portaferry star moved to the front early on, setting a nice pace. She dug deep on the final lap, under pressure, and was passed only by Sofia Ennaoui of Poland (4:02.73) down the home straight.

It was a composed, comfortable run, and she looked to have more in the tank crossing the line.

Germany’s Hanna Klein was third in 4:03.46, with eight qualifying from the faster semi-final, including Great Britain duo Katie Snowden and Ellie Baker.

Sarah Healy exited after finishing 11th in 4:10.75, well off her best, in the earlier 1500m semi-final.

“It was terrible,” she said afterwards, as quoted by Irish athletics journalist Cathal Dennehy. “I do struggle a lot mentally (at championships), I thought I got it sorted but it’s like my energy just goes. It’s like I don’t care when I’m racing, even though I care so much.

“If I’d just been a bit tougher I could have kept going, but I just decided to check out – again. I keep learning the same lessons, so it’s tough.”

Great Britain superstar Laura Muir won it out in 4:06.40, with Italy’s Ludovica Cavalli, Sweden’s Hanna Hermansson and Germany’s Katharina Trost also qualifying directly.

The 1500m final will take place at 7:45pm (Irish time) on Friday.

rhasidat-adeleke Rhasidat Adeleke (file pic). Morgan Treacy / INPHO Morgan Treacy / INPHO / INPHO

Rhasidat Adeleke’s 400m semi-final, meanwhile, was her 48th race of 2022 and she entered it knowing that she needed either a top-two finish, or a third- or fourth-placed finish in a time quicker than 51.17, to qualify for a 49th.

The decorated underage star, a double gold-medal winner over shorter distances in the U20 Europeans last year, overcame a wobble in the final 50 to cross the line third in a time of 51.08.

These were further steps in the right direction for the up-and-coming Tallaght star who finished ninth at the Worlds last month.

The 400m final will take place on Wednesday night (9:02pm).

Elsewhere on the track, Chris O’Donnell – a finalist as part of the Irish relay team at the Olympics and World Championships – bowed out at the semi-final stage of the men’s 400m. O’Donnell finished fifth in his heat, in a time of 45.73.

Brendan Boyce, meanwhile, finished tenth in the men’s 35km walk, in a time of 2:38:03. That was 11:14 from winner Miguel Ángel López of Spain, with Christoper Linke of Germany taking silver and Italy’s Matteo Giupponi bronze. 

You can view the results here >

Originally published at 11:45

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