IRELAND’S LATEST EUROPEAN Indoor medallist Mark English admits he surprised himself in today’s 800m final but puts his performance down to an improvement in his fitness.
English found himself down the field at the halfway juncture in Prague but timed his move to perfection as he moved from fifth to second down the home straight to cross the line in a time of 1:47.20.
“Just absolutely delighted, I can’t really put it into words,” he said afterwards. “I even surprised myself today at how good I felt, it was just a great feeling.”
“It’s fantastic to do it for all those that come over, my family, friends and team mates. The Irish supporters are better than anyone in the world and to do it for them is unbelievable.”
The Letterkenny athlete, who also won 800m bronze at last year’s European outdoor Championships in Zurich, stormed past Sweden’s Andreas Almgren in the final 200m and then Netherlands’ Thijmen Kupers after the last bend to become Ireland’s 23rd medallist at the event.
While his tactics were executed brilliantly, English acknowledged the work of his coach in the last few months to bring the 21-year-old to the next level.
“I just want to thank my coach because I’ve really improved aerobically since Zurich and I was able to get myself in a good position but also was able to think clearly and that’s so important over 800 metres.
“I was happy to sit in fourth place halfway through as it was pretty much strung out at that stage. I just had to keep on my toes, keep my rhythm and once I hit that final stretch, I told myself nobody was going to beat me here.
“Obviously Marcin Lewandowski was just too strong but I was delighted to beat Kupers because that guy is a world finalist.
“I’ll be able to beat these guys outdoors.”
The Irish team arrive home on Monday evening and are expected to touch down in Dublin Airport at 7.10pm.
Imo Sean Andy shhould have got that award and votes should have been done by a panel of analysts … any player he marked he marked out off all the games he played they had to get moved off him especially in the Kerry game where there best forward got switched off him.. that includes the Dublin team where he was definitely man of the match on a losing team as well .
Yeah Sean Andy definitely should have got it. Was imperious in both the semi final and final. It was a public vote though and Dublin has a much bigger population than Galway hence the outcome.
@Sean Moore: Galway no.3 looks a top player no doubt and hopefully will be part of a new era for Galway football. To say he was imperious in the final, not sure, his direct opponent Con O’Callaghan scored 1-1 from play and won a free off Sean Andy for dublins first score of the game and O’Callaghan also laid off at least two gimme points directly. I thought it was a great contest between COC and Sean Andy and for my money the Galway man shaded it but imperious, no. Aaron Byrne was key in the victory for dublin as he was in the semi against Donegal. Neither Galway or Donegal were able to cope with the controlled direct running of the dublin half forward, for me he was the key man in the destination of the title this year. Hopefully we will see more great contests between these players in the years ahead.