Cian McPhillips sets national record to reach 800m final at World Championships

IRELAND’S CIAN MCPHILLIPS set a new national record en route to booking a spot in the final of 800m at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, with victory in his semi-final.

Longford native McPhillips, racing in the second semi-final, followed up his victory in the heat with a time of 1:43.18 today, beating the record set last month by Mark English of 1:43.37.

The result sees McPhillips become the first Irish man to qualify for a world outdoor 800m final, which will take place on Saturday afternoon at 2.22pm (Irish time).

He finished ahead of Max Burgin (Great Britain) in second in a time of 1:43.37, while Donavan Brazier (USA) third in 1:43.82.

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There was disappointment for Mark English who finished third earlier in the first semi-final in a time of 1:45.47 behind Marco Arop and Djamel Sedjati, and was unable to secure a final spot with that time.

English, a five-time medallist at European championships level, made an aggressive burst to hit the front with 200m to go but Canadian athlete Arop surged ahead to win with Algerian runner Sedjati finishing second.

McPhillips expressed his delight at the victory when speaking to RTÉ afterwards.

“It hasn’t really sunk in yet. I had a feeling it was coming. I felt really, really good two days ago. I’ve never raced against a field this good and it’s hard to know sometimes if you have it or not, I just went for it when Max took off, and thankfully I was able to hold on until the end.

“As good as these guys are, you can’t really give them any respect, you have to treat them like they’re the same as you, and yeah, delighted with that.

“I was a bit all over the place, the last 30 metres, but I was doing my best to hold form, something I’ve really worked on in the gym and stuff for the last couple of years. It hasn’t really been able to materialise in the races until now, I picked a good time to do it.

“I’ve been working hard the last couple of years, it hasn’t really come together. To the outside it probably looks like a huge jump, to me I’ve seen the work that I’ve been putting in, I’ve seen it come out in training, and now we’re finally seeing it come out in races, so I’m delighted.”