Now for the properly testing and thrilling part.
If both Ciara Mageean and Sarah Healy made qualifying for the European 1,500 metres final look relatively easy, Sunday night’s medal showdown is poised to be a far different sort of challenge.
Mageean already knows exactly what is required to battle onto the medal podium on this stage, the 32-year-old winning silver two years ago in Munich, and bronze back in 2016; she also knows what it’s like to miss out, fourth in 2018 behind Britain’s Laura Muir. Her only ambition here goes without saying.
Muir is bypassing these championships, but Mageean still has a difficult trio of British runners to beat, including Jemma Reekie, who won Mageean’s heat in 4:06.68 inside the Stadio Olimpico on Friday morning, impressing with her 60-second last lap run from the front.
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With her best of 3:55.87, Mageean is the fastest and most experienced of the finalists, and did all she needed to do in qualifying, cruising around that last lap to nail third in 4:06.81.
In both races, only the top six went through to the final, and part of the challenge for Mageean is to deal with that finishing speed of Reekie, the 26-year-old already winning 800m silver at the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow in March, and recently winning an 800m in Stockholm in 1:57.79.
“I feel like I’m ready for whatever tactics unfold”, said Mageean, the Portaferry native also improved her 800m best last month to 1:58.81.
“I’m a 3:55 runner, have just run a personal best over 800 metres, so I know the speed is in my legs.
“I feel like I’m coming into this championship as a favourite, which is something I’ve probably never been before, that comes with some added pressure, but not as much pressure as I put on myself . . . and it would be an absolute dream to hear Amhrán na bhFiann blasting around that stadium.”
Healy qualified for Sunday’s final (9:40 Irish time) from the second heat, for what is now the 23-year-old’s first senior final. She endured a slightly less straightforward run, finishing fourth in 4:12.30, behind Agatha Guillemot from France, who took the win in 4:11.92 (Healy narrowly avoided a clash of runners with 200m remaining, which took out two of the field). Britain’s Georgia Bell (Healy’s training partner) and Katie Snowden also qualified ahead of her in second and third.
“I’m really excited about that, it feels like there’s no pressure,” Healy said of her first senior final, her experience and confidence also growing all the time. “It’s only upside, so I’ll see what I can do.”
As ever the men’s 800m heats were cut-throat competitive, Paul Anselmini from France winning the fourth heat in 1:44.73, the fastest ever 800m heat in the 90-year history of these championships,
Mark English came to Rome after running 1:44.95 in Oslo last week, and despite a bold and brave move to take out the first lap, in front at the bell in 52.35 seconds, had faded over the second half of the race and ended up fifth, clocking 1:46.73, only the top three going through automatically, with Spain’s Adrian Ben taking the win in 1:46.39.
“It went exactly as I thought it would, but it was tough out there to try to do that,” said English, who won 800m bronze in 2014 and again last time out in 2022.
“This year was always about qualifying for Paris and I’ll get back to that now. I’ve a couple of races coming up and at the end of the year, most people will be talking about Paris.”
In the 3,000m steeplechase heats, Michelle Finn finished 14th in 9:46.93.
Irish medal hopes will also turn to Sarah Lavin on Saturday evening, ranked fifth of the final entries in the 100m hurdles, which earned her a bye into the semi-finals. By her admission, Lavin will likely need to run in the 12.50s to make the podium, faster than she’s ever run before.
But she’s hopeful: it’s not yet a year since she took down Derval O’Rourke’s 13-year-old Irish record, at the World Championships in Budapest last August, when she clocked 12.62 seconds in her semi-final, improving the 12.65 O’Rourke set when winning the silver medal at the 2010 European Championships in Barcelona.
WEEKEND HIGHLIGHTS (ALL TIMES IRISH)
Day Two – Saturday, June 8th
Morning Session
Christopher O’Donnell – Men’s 400m – Round One – 10:45
Evening Session
Oisin Lane – Men’s 20km Race Walk – Final – 17:00
Sarah Lavin – Women’s 100m Hurdles – SF – 19:12
Sarah Lavin – Women’s 100m Hurdles – Final – 21:08 * Progression pending
Brian Fay – Men’s 5000m – Final – 21:28
Day Three – Sunday, June 9th
Morning Session
Hiko Tonosa – Men’s Half Marathon – Final – 08:00
Shona Heaslip, Emily Haggard Kearney – Women’s Half Marathon – Final – 08:30
Nicola Tuthill – Women’s Hammer Throw – Qualification – 09:05
Mark Smyth – Men’s 200m – Round One – 10:50
Kelly McGrory – Women’s 400m Hurdles – Round One – 11:40
Thomas Barr – Men’s 400m Hurdles – Round One – 12:20
Evening Session
Rhasidat Adeleke, Sharlene Mawdsley, Sophie Becker – Women’s 400m – SF – 19:05
Ciara Mageean, Sarah Healy – Women’s 1500m – Final – 21:40 (22:36)
