Sometimes these little comparisons can’t be helped, not when Ciara Mageean comes out and wins a first national distance running double since Sonia O’Sullivan.
That was 18 years ago, weeks before O’Sullivan went on to win her Olympic silver medal in Sydney over 5,000m, and for Mageean there may be some small comparison in there too.
At a breezy Morton Stadium on Sunday evening, Mageean won the 1,500m exactly 75 minutes after winning the 800m, and with that wrapped up her preparations for the European Championships, which begin on Tuesday week, August 7th, inside the still hallowed surrounds of Berlin’s Olympiastadion. She’ll only run the 1,500m there, and having won European bronze two years ago, is certainly running into form.
So too is Thomas Barr – now entering the Edwin Moses sort of winning territory. In an event where anything can and often does go wrong, Barr is now unbeaten in eight years of Irish championship running over the 400 metres hurdles.
Barr delivered a new championship record to boot, clocking 49.56 seconds to improve his own 49.68 set here in 2015. This remember in a near flat-out lap of the track lined with 10 hurdles, each three-foot high.
It was the standout performance of the weekend: Barr, on paper and on form, is a medal prospect inside the Olympiastadion too.
There was also an impressive track double for Leon Reid, winning the first 100m-200m double in three years, although the Bath-born sprinter is still awaiting final clearance on his switching of allegiance from Britain to Ireland in time for Berlin. That’s expected this week. Just turned 24, there’s no denying Reid can run, grabbing the 100m title in 10.42 seconds into a stiff headwind, having won the 200m on Saturday in 20.76.
Gina Apke-Moses won her first senior 100m title in a photo-finish 11.86, and also adding her name to the list of now 33 individual qualifiers for Berlin is Michelle Finn, who won the 3,000m steeplechase in 9:46.19, inside the B-standard for the second time. With three out of four relay teams also qualified, it will be a busy week for the Irish team in Berlin.
For Barr all the hard work is naturally done, the Waterford man running a season best of 48.99 in London earlier this month. “Yep very happy with that, the fastest time ever run in nationals, and felt very smooth too,” said Barr. “I felt under a bit of pressure going for title number eight, but happy to have done the deed, and very proud of it. It was a slow start to the season, a few technical things weren’t right, but it’s coming together and into form at just the right time.”
Edwin Moses, remember, went nine years, nine months and nine days unbeaten in the 400m hurdles, across 122 consecutive races, Barr still worthy of the comparison by Irish standards: he only turned 26 last Tuesday and there’s plenty more titles in him yet.
Mageean has won 800m and 1,500m titles before, only not on the same day. The Portaferry woman used both events here as a sort of test run for Berlin, effectively turning both races into a 100m sprint – winning the 800 in the homestretch in 2:07.93, before doing likewise in the 1,500m, winning in 4:22.47.
“I’m really happy with that, the last hard weekend before the Europeans,” she said. “I tried that double once before, when I was younger, and ran a bit more sensibly this time. Fair play to Kerry O’Flaherty, made us all work for it in the 1,500m, but I just wanted to practice my finish, and come off feeling confident. But you learn something from every race you run, and I’m taking a lot of strength from all the work I’ve done, and progressing forward.”
Mark English and Phil Healy are also Berlin bound, and for English winning a fifth consecutive 800m title was clearly important. He’d dropped out of the Morton Games and had only run one other race this season, but looked more like the old English, neatly timing his finish to win in 1:50.82, from 20 year-old John Fitzsimons from Kildare AC.
Healy has qualified over three distances (100m, 200m and 400m), but will aim for a 100m-200m only in Berlin – winning the 200m title on Saturday in 23.64.
There were first-time winners in the both 400m races, 20 year-old Chris O’Donnell from Sligo winning the men’s in 46.92, after Claire Mooney won the women’s title 53.85, the UCD athlete running the 800m in Berlin.
In the field Stephen Rice of Clonliffe Harriers continued his excellent javelin form to take the title with a best of 66.95, Adam McMullen from Crusaders won the long jump with his 7.68m, and Philippa Rogan from Sli Cualann AC in Wicklow won the high jump with a best of 1.80m. John Travers from Donore won back his 1,500m title in 3:47.45, with Darren McBrearty from Donegal showing a welcome return to form to claim silver.
Those earning their tickets to Berlin will be confirmed on Monday.
