Ciara Mageean finished third in her 1500m semi-final to progress to Tuesday’s final
World Athletics Championships 2023
Venue: Budapest Dates: 19-27 August
Coverage: Watch live on B&BC One, BBC Two, BBC Three, BBC iPlayer, BBC Red Button, BBC Sport website and app; listen on BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Sounds; live text on evening sessions.
Ireland’s Ciara Mageean eased into Tuesday’s women’s 1500m final at the World Championships as Rhasidat Adeleke impressed in her opening 400m heat.
A composed Mageean was third in her semi-final in 4:02.70 which left her just behind Kenya’s Nelly Chepchirchir and Ethiopia’s Birke Haylom.
Sarah Healy smashed her personal best by clocking 3:59.68 in her semi-final but her eighth place wasn’t enough.
Rhasidat Adeleke impressively won her 400m to show her medal credentials.
Mageean’s race in Budapest was significantly slower than the second semi-final won by world record holder and event favourite Faith Kipyegon in 3:55.14.
The opening lap in the Portaferry runner’s semi-final was reached in a comparatively pedestrian 66.54 and the second 400m was run in over 68 seconds as Mageean found herself in a potentially awkward position on the kerb in the middle of the pack.
However as the pace inevitably picked up, the 31-year-old moved into a better position and she was on the shoulders of the leaders with 250 metres to go before retaining her form down the home straight to comfortably progress to the final.
Healy goes sub-four and achieves Olympic standar
The hot pace in the second semi-final left Healy unable to stay in touch with Kipyegon and the other leaders but she maintained her form superbly over the closing lap to break four minutes for the first time and also comfortably achieve the Olympic qualifying standard of 4:02.50.
Andrew Coscoran also missed out on a 1500m finals place as he was the last of the 14 finishers in his semi-final in a time of 3:37.39 – almost seven seconds outside his Irish record set last month – as the USA’s Yared Nuguse (3:32.69) was first ahead of Kenya’s Abel Kipsang (3:32.72) and 18-year-old Niels Laros who set a new Dutch record of 3:32.74, with Britain’s Neil Gourley squeezing into the final.
Meanwhile, Adeleke’s medal hopes soared as she won her World Championships 400m heat and Olympic champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo and US star Britton Wilson both exited.
Ireland’s Adeleke conserved energy in earning a dominant win in 50.80 seconds – 1.60 outside her personal best.
Bahamian Miller-Uibo was seventh in her heat after only recently returning to action following giving birth while Wilson, meanwhile, was way off her best as she clocked 53.87 seconds.
Rhasidat Adeleke won her first-round heat at the World Championships in Budapest
Rhasidat Adeleke produced a composed run to comfortably win her first-round heat at the World Championships in Budapest
The US athlete went into the championships third in the world rankings having clocked 49.13 seconds this year, just ahead of fourth-ranked Adeleke, with world number one Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone missing the Budapest tests because of injury
World number two Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic looks to be the athlete to beat after qualifying fastest for Monday evening’s semi-finals in 49.90 seconds – 0.92 slower than her personal best set in May.
Tipperary woman Sharlene Mawdsley will join Dubliner Adeleke in the semi-finals after securing one of the fastest non-automatic qualifiers berths by finishing fourth in her heat in a new personal best of 51.17 seconds – 0.17 inside her previous PB.
But while the Irish 400m duo performed well, it was a less satisfactory morning for Dundalk heptathlete Kate O’Connor as she dropped from her overnight position to 11th after the long jump and javelin.
O’Connor’s long jump struggles of previous major championships continue as her best leap of 5.74m was 36 centimetres down on her lifetime best and 0.23m shy of her season’s best set three weeks ago.
That dropped her from her overnight position of 11th to 15th spot and she only was able to move up two place following her specialist javelin event as she threw 46.07m before being unable to take her third and final effort
The assumption is O’Connor was feeling an injury, as she threw 50.83m at the Commonwealth Games last which propelled her to the silver medal behind Katarina Johnson-Thompson.
The Newry-born athlete was targeting a top-10 finish in Budapest but that now looks beyond her with the concluding 800m at 17:00.
Great Britain’s 2019 champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson moved into the lead after producing a 6.54m long jump and impressive 46.14m which put her 26 points ahead Dutchwoman Anouk Vetter and 43 clear of US favourite Anna Hall, who has looked inhibited by injury during the competition, but it a 2:02 800m runner at her best.
Hall’s team-mate Taliayah Brooks, who was fourth overnight, made a tearful exit after fouling all three of her long jump attempts.
Ireland men’s 400m hopeful Chris O’Donnell bowed out of his event having clocked 46.72 seconds – 1.46 seconds outside his personal best set last year – to finish seventh in his heat.
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