Mark English takes medical break to maintain medal pursuit

The smallest of margins mean the most in the life of Mark English.

Already a four-time European medallist, English aims to add to the collection this week in Turkey.

The Finn Valley AC man goes first in search of a place in the six-man 800m final. In a loaded, yet evenly-spread field, English is among plenty with a realistic medal hope.

The Letterkenny native has been here before.

In the lead-up to the 2022 European Championships in Munich, English was working as a doctor in Roscommon University Hospital.

Having won a superb bronze there, English has opted to park his medical career.

“I've taken a break and I'm full-time running now,” English told Donegal Live.

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“I'll have a go this year and then evaluate again.

“It means I have more time to focus on something that I might be missing. The thing about 800m running is you have to put all the piece of the jigsaw – speed, endurance, plyometrics, strength – together.”

In 2020 and '21, English completed his medical studies and the last full rotation of his intern year saw him work with the hepatobiliary team at the Mater Hospital in Dublin.

At the 2019 European Indoors in Glasgow, English had an anxious wait to see whether or not he would advance to the final.

He finished fifth in his semi-final, but was reinstated after being bumped unfairly,

In spite of having to share lane three with Andreas Bube of Denmark, English stormed in to take bronze behind Álvaro de Arriba of Spain and Great Britain's Jamie Webb.

With Mariano Garcia, the indoor and outdoor European champion, missing, Belgian Tibo De Smet seems the golden contender, but English knows he can be firmly in the medal mix.

The 29-year-old linked up with PACE Sports Management, who are run by Milford native and former Finn Valley AC athlete Ricky Simms, in late 2022. A recent tie-up with Asics has been another boost and his coach, Feidhlim Kelly, has been confirmed as one of the new high performance support coaches.

English said: “Being on my feet at work last year took away from my speed a good bit, but I'm in a good place at the minute.

“I've ran my second fastest ever indoor time so that's positive.

“After Garcia that you have a group of five to ten of us who could be in the medals. I've been out of contention before and come through. I'll stay hopeful. I've got the gears and got the skill to do it.”

On Wednesday night, English won an 800m race in 1:46.57 at the Gallur Municipal Sports Centre in Madrid.

The time was his joint second fastest indoor time and arrived just three days after he won the ninth Irish indoor title (the 17th overall) of his career.

He said: “I was very happy after winning that Irish title.

“National titles are always competitive. They mean a lot to me. Every time I come out there, I'm in a race and it's always nice to come away with a victory.

“I was very happy with my performance. I was happy with that last 200m. It's nice knowing that I have the change of gears for the Europeans.”