Mark English will stay in orbit despite falling short in Copernicus’ city

Nicolaus Copernicus, the man who redefined the very notion of orbit, hailed from Toruń.

Copernicus, a heralded astronomer, shifted the world’s understanding of motion, placing the sun at the centre and setting the planets in motion around it. 

His birthplace in Toruń is now a museum and a statue in his honour is nestled within the ancient red-capped walled city - one of the oldest cities in Poland.

There were plenty in orbit over the weekend at the Kujawsko-Pomorska Arena in Toruń. A different sort of a celestial pursuit unfolded at the venue for the latest installment of the World Athletics Indoor Championships.

Mark English had his eye on a new orbit - a place in his first global final at senior level - until the Finn Valley AC runner was put off his axis somewhat, finishing fourth in his 800m semi-final and left to ponder what might have been,

It was a field including three of the seven fastest 800m runners in history and English ran a stride-perfect heat on Friday, winning in 1:46.42, to lift the hopes.

Asked about the possibilities of reaching a final, English was guarded in his reply, telling reporters in the mixed zone: “I don't like to predict that I'm going to be anywhere yet because there's so many good athletes and everyone feels that they've got a chance of making it.

“Everyone probably feels that they've got a chance of winning at times, so there's a lot of doubt out there. I'm just going to take it one at a time.”

There was no margin for error in the semi-final, just the first two across the line advancing to the final. 

Coming down the home straight, the Letterkenny native bore the wincing look of a man who knew he was set to fall short - and so it proved as he ducked over the line in fourth place. 

On Friday, he explained how his winter’s work high in the Sierra Nevada mountains was an attempt to “do my form justice”. That he didn’t will perhaps be the thing that grates most for the medical doctor, a forensic analyst of his own races. 

So, too, will a rejected appeal. 

A Jury of Appeal ruled that an incident involving English and Japanese athlete Tatsunami Clay, around 250m into the race, did not significantly affect the Irish runner.

Upon reviewing the race, Irish officials lodged a protest with the track referee, arguing that the impeding of English by Japanese athlete Tatsunami Clay - who finished second and ran in the final - 250m into the race impacted the Letterkenny native’s momentum, but the protest was declined.

A subsequent appeal to the Jury of Appeal contested that English should be progressed, contesting that the incident had cost him advancement.

The panel rejected the Irish appeal, deeming the contact to be “incidental”. 

A look at the final might well have cut deep.

A new rising star, Cooper Lutkenhaus from the United States, won 800m gold in 1:44.24. The 17-year-old became the youngest ever World Indoor champion.

“Any time I feel like I can step into a final I have a chance to win,” the teenage sensation said. “I really wanted to try to make a defining move.”

Belgian Eliott Crestan took second in 1:44.38 from Spanish athlete Mohamed Attaoui, who crossed the line in 1:44.66 for bronze.

Toruń’s cobbled streets and Gothic brick buildings have changed little since medieval times, earning the city UNESCO World Heritage status. English arrived to the city by the Vistula river standing the test of time himself.

While a veteran of seven outdoor World Athletics Championships, this was only English’s third time to go under starter’s orders at the indoor version.

In 2014 in Sopot, a couple of hours north of Torun, English was fourth in a heat in 1:47.60. Three years ago, he exited after a 1:51.35 heat in Serbia.

At outdoor world championships, he has been in four semi-finals, placing third last year in Tokyo.

Any question that English might have packed up the tent after that agonising semi-final, at a Championships where fellow Irish athlete Cian McPhillips powered to the final and also took hold of the Irish outdoor record, were emphatically quashed in January. He came back like a fine wine. 

At a Track and Field Live meet at the National Indoor Arena, English clocked a new Irish indoor 600m record, going 1:15.80 in a race he himself had asked meet director David Matthews to put on.

A few days later, English - who has been coached by Justin Rinaldi since post-Olympics in 2024 - lowered the 800m record to 1:44.65 when winning at the Coque Sport Center in Luxembourg. A third place finish in Lyon followed before English finished third in Ostrava at a World Indoor gold meet won by Crestan..

He might have turned 33 last Wednesday, but English belied the numbers across recent weeks and many have marvelled at his longevity.

Crestan, now a three-time world medallist, is 27 and remarked on Sunday after the final how: “It is hard to maintain that level for a long time.”

At the World Junior Championships in 2012 in Barcelona, English did reach the final, placing fifth in 1:46.02. That race was won Nijel Amos with Timothy Kitum second - the pair took Olympic silver and bronze just a few weeks later.

Despite only being 0.17 of a second from the A standard, the Olympic Council of Ireland decided against taking English - who won a 1000m gold at the European Youth Olympic Trials in Moscow in 2010 - across the Irish sea to the Olympcis in London.

"It would have been great to go, just to see what it was like living in the village and the atmosphere of the stadium," he said in a later interview. "Things like that can really benefit young athletes, as we've seen so often in the past."

It is 12 years now since he won the first of his five European medals - an outdoor bronze in Zurich.

Last year, English was the indoor bronze medal winner in Apeldoorn, Netherlands. English also won outdoor bronze in Munich (2022), indoor silver in Prague (2015) and indoor bronze in Glasgow (2019).

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Fifteen years ago, English won Irish senior golds, indoors and outdoors, and has been a tour de force ever since.

Of the 670 athletes competing in Toruń, English was one of only eight to have competed in the 2014 edition in Sopot. Yoshihide Kiryu (Japan), Tom Walsh (New Zealand), Anita Hinriksdottir (Iceland), Natoya Goule (Jamaica), Justyna Swiety-Ersetic (Poland), Tina Sutej (Slovenia) and Ivana Spanovic (Serbia) are the others.

The European Athletics Championships will take place later this year. 

Copernicus taught us that everything moves in cycles. In Toruń, English’s story didn’t quite come full circle - but it still has some more turns to take yet.