Who is Cian McPhillips? Meet Ireland's 800m World Athletics Championships finalist

Cian McPhillips has exploded into the world of elite Irish athletics in a week he will never forget in Tokyo.

And the rising 23-year-old Longford star could yet be in line for greater glory with his time in today's second 800m semi-final at the Japan National Stadium putting him joint fastest of the hopefuls for Saturday's final, which takes place at 2.22pm Irish time.

McPhillips hails from Longford but runs for UCD AC as he is a maths student on the Belfield campus.

Coming up through the ranks for Longford AC, the Ardagh athlete's talent was obvious as a teenager at Moyne Community College and just missed out on a place in the 1500m final in the European Athletics Youth Championships in Hungary in 2018.

In the same year, he broke John Treacy's long-held Irish Youths 3000m outdoor record and his promise was franked at international level by the gold medal he won in the European under-20 Championships in Tallinn five years ago.

A national indoor champion, he was tipped to beat Mark English to the national 800m title in Santry this summer, victory went to the 32-year-old from Donegal in an exciting duel. But competing in his first senior global championships this week, McPhillips became the first Irishman to win a heat at the Worlds outdoor.

His PB of 1.44.19, set in the Morton Games in July, was the slowest time this year of those competing in heat two of today's 800m semi-final but he showed remarkable courage in racing to the front down the back straight and sprinting to the finish to set a new national record of 1.43.18.

"He has topped Mark English's career in one run, making a World championship final and he broke an Irish record and it looks as if there's more there," said RTÉ pundit Rob Heffernan, a former World gold medallist. "I'm so excited for him but I hope he comes back down and gives us a performance in the final like that."

Heffernan added: "He could end up a world champion, he could end up sixth but he has lifted the country.

And Sonia O'Sullivan commented: "A phenomenal run and it was a negative split, he ran faster for his second lap than his first, which for 800m is very unusual, but it looks like that's the style he needs to have and hopefully the final will be similar and he gets another good run.