Mark English eyes up Olympic final place in Men's 800m

Mark English will toe the line in the first of the first three Men's Olympic 800m semi-finals at the Stade de France this morning.

A native of Letterkenny, English is a holder of four European senior medals and 18 Irish titles and is seeking his first-ever final appearance on the global stage.

The Finn Valley AC member put in a fine run to finish second in his heat finishing just 0.02 seconds behind the winner, France’s Gabriel Tual, who clocked 1:45.13, on Wednesday. The first two in each semi-final qualify for the final, as well as the next two fastest and over the three semi-finals.

“I’ve never doubted myself and always believed I could do it," English said after his heat. "I have run PBs and 400, 600 and 800m this year, so I’m in good shape and it’s all about producing my best race now in the semi-final.”

The 31-year-old will compete at 10:30am, alongside Algeria's Djamel Sedjati; Ben Pattison of Great Britain; Tshopiso Masalela from Botswana, Mexican Jesus Tonatiu Lopez; Brandon Miller of the United States; Italian Catalin Tecucanu and Sweden's Andreas Kramer. English will be the second Donegal athlete competing this morning, with Kelly McGrory part of the Women's 4x400 team due out at 9:40am looking for a final place.

English made the trip to Paris in good form, having beaten his own Irish record in June, running 1:44.53 at the Madrid Meeting. That PB means he's the fifth fastest of the eight competitors in his race this morning, with Sedjati's best 1:41.46 and Pattison having a 1:42.27.

At Rio 2016, English was third in his heat with 1:46.40 and in the semi-final that followed came home in fifth, clocking 1:45.93, in a race won by 2012 Olympic champion and world record holder David Rudisha. Five years later at the deferred Tokyo Games, he finished fourth in his heat in a time of 1:46.75.