Mark English wins heat to book European 800m semi-final spot

Mark English won his heat and is safely through to the 800m semi-finals at the European Athletics Championships.

Finn Valley AC man English won the second heat of the morning in 1:47.54.

The 29-year-old gave an assured performance, grabbing the lead when getting inside Benjamin Robert to grab the lead and maintaining his position to be first over the line.

Robert of France was second in 1:47.66 while Great Britain’s Daniel Rowden was third in 1:47.67.

It was a tough draw for English, but the Donegal man began well at the Olympiastadion and is now readying for a semi-final on Friday.

English - who is a three-time European medalist - arrived in Munich energised and encouraged by a superb showing at last month’s World Championships in Oregon.

Gallen and Dewhirst break records in Wales

Adrienne Gallen broke the Donegal hammer record and Fintan Dewhirst clocked a stadium best in the 400m hurdles in Swansea on Wednesday evening

There, he delivered the fastest Championship 800m ever by an Irish athlete, his 1:44.76 heat only 0.05 seconds off his Irish record.

English finished is semi-final in 1:45.78 and was only two tenths of a second off a place in the world final.

Earlier in the morning, Eilish Flanagan was 12th in her 3,000m steeplechase heat.

The Finn Valley AC woman finished in 10:00.72, which wasn’t enough to progress to the final. Germany’s Lee Meyer won the heat in 9:39.55.

Last month, she ran a season’s best of 9:57.18 to finish sixth at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. Her PB in the event, 9:34.86, was clocked at last summer’s Olympic Games where she also finished 12th in her heat.

At the European Cross Country Championships in Dublin in December, she finished a fine 15th with the Irish team just beaten to bronze medals.

Her twin sister, Roisin, goes in Thursday evening’s 5,000m final in Munich.