CIARA MAGEEAN HAS revealed she picked up an injury prior to a disappointing heat performance which saw her fail to make the semi-finals of the women’s 1,500 metres.
Mageean finished 10th in a time of 4:07.29 having looked uncomfortable on the final lap.
“Not happy with that, to be perfectly honest with you. I put myself in the race up the front. Went out hard but not too hard. Just didn’t have it in that last burnout which I am pretty annoyed about and disappointed,” said Mageean in her RTE post-race interview.
A top-six finish was required for automatic qualification. Speaking before her elimination was confirmed, Mageean was initially hopeful she could secure a time qualifier with the next best six across three heats also progressing. In the end, her time was not enough.
“The race just really hit up with 600m to go. In my head, I was like ‘keep your form. Keep strong.’ tried my best just wasn’t good enough to be in the top six. I wanted an automatic Q. I am annoyed.”
‘I didn’t have an ideal week leading into it. I picked up a little niggle’ - Speaking before her 1500m elimination was confirmed, Ciara Mageean revealed an untimely injury #tokyo2020 #RTESport #athletics
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She also explained a calf injury suffered last week hindered preparations.
“I didn’t have an ideal week leading into it. Not one for sharing the troubles that arise and the toughness, but it wasn’t ideal,” Mageean said. “I picked up a little bit of a niggle. I am wondering did that just take my edge off.”
