Mark English set for loaded Millrose 800m as Lecky heads for Nantes

Mark English goes up against a top-class field on Saturday evening at the Millrose Games in New York.

The Finn Valley AC man makes his first outing of 2022 at The Armory in a World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meet.

English, a three-time European medalist, set new Irish indoor (1:46.10) and outdoor (1:45.71) records in 2021. He competed at the Olympic Games in Tokyo having previously been at the 2016 Games in Rio.

America-based Michael Saruni, who won the 800m at the 2019 Millrose Games, leads a strong race. Saruni holds an African indoor record of 1:43.98 that is the fastest indoor 800m clocking ever achieved in the US.

Bryce Hoppel, who was fourth in the 800m final at the 2019 World Championships and an Olympic semi-finalist in Tokyo, returns to Millrose having been second in 2020.

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The 29-year-old is much travelled and has played in Bulgaria and Italy.

Saúl Ordóñez, the 2018 World Indoor bronze medalist, Australian Charlie Hunter and Jesús López from Mexico are all in the mix whir NCAA champion Isaiah Jewett, who joined Hoppel on the US Olympic team last year, is also set to compete.

Millrose has been held at The Armory, ‘the fastest track in the world’, since 2012.  The Millrose Games are the world’s longest-running and most prestigious track and field competition and the 2022 version will be broadcast live on TG4. The meet director is former Irish miler Ray Flynn.

English competed in the 2020 Millrose Games, finishing sixth in the 800m in 1:52.94.

English has already secured qualification for the 2022 World Athletics Championships, which take place in Eugene, Oregon in July. The 28-year-old will also compete in the 2022 European Athletics Championships, which are held in Munich in August.

English’s Finn Valley AC colleague Sommer Lecky, the gold medalist at the Scottish Indoor Championships in Glasgow last weekend, returns to action this weekend.

Lecky, the former World U20 silver and Commonwealth Youth gold medalist, competes in the Meeting Elite Nantes Métropole at the Stadium Pierre-Quinon in Nantes.

The eighth edition of the Meeting Elite Nantes Métropole Indoor will see Lecky go up against the likes of Great Britain’s Morgan Lake and Russian Daniela Stanciu.