Mark English juggling his time and his times

Time is everything in the life of Mark English - not that he has too much of it these days.

The Finn Valley AC man, who won a 15th Irish senior title, an eighth indoors, on Sunday, is gearing up for the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade.

English, has already secured the qualifying time for the World Athletics Championships in July and will also line up at the European Championships in Munich a month later.

The 28-year-old is a doctor at Roscommon University Hospital, but still manages to find the time to combine work with life as a world class athlete.

“It’s difficult trying to get the time to combine the two of them,” English told Donegal Live.

Mark English eases through the gears to defend Indoor 800m crown

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“It’s nice being in the hospital I’m in at the minute. They’re very accommodating.

“I’ll keep training now and I might do another time trial before Belgrade. Unless I can get into a race, it’ll be a time trial.”

English competed at the Olympic Games last year and has come back with the bit between the teeth again.

He recorded an impressive win on Sunday at the National Indoor Arena.

The sound of the bell was the cue for English to kick hard and he won in 1:49.39.

He said: “I ran a good 400m, which showed that I’ve still got good speed. I ran my third quickest time over 800m in Poland last week. The guys who were in that race opened their season slower so it’s promising.”

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English had been hoping to compete at the Millrose Games in New York last month, but a hamstring injury saw him withdraw.

On Sunday, he felt the hamstring ‘a little bit’ before the race; not that you’d have thought it as he surged away from his rivals to win with ease.

He said: “I thought I’d be able to just about win it, but I didn’t think I’d win it by that much so I’m really happy.

“You’re just saying a new Hail Mary that it doesn’t affect you. I knew that I had to just go and give it a shot. I knew that it wouldn’t pull or anything like that. It was just about going out and giving it a shot.”