Sky Academy Scholar Mark English proud of Beijing Championships
Friday 24 March 2017 12:55, UK
It's been an action-packed few days at the World Championships in China for Mark English.
The 22-year-old Sky Academy Scholar arrived in Beijing in flying form on the back of a dazzling effort at the Anniversary Games in London. Injury niggles were forgotten.
A season's best at the Olympic Stadium guaranteed his qualification for next year's Games in Rio and the famous Bird's Nest arena was another chance to show the world his skills.
He did not let anyone down. After clocking 1 minute 46.69 seconds to make the 800m semi-finals, the 22-year-old Dublin medical student narrowly missed out on the final despite a late surge.
Beijing and my Olympic qualification time has been a welcome turnaround for me
And in the early hours of Saturday, English ran the last leg for the Irish men's 4x400m relay team (plus Brian Gregan, Brian Murphy and Thomas Barr). It was never going to be easy against the USA, Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago.
The flying Irish boys didn't qualify but they slashed nearly half a second off the national record when finishing 8th in their semi-final in a time of 3:01.26 to end 13th position overall.
English is now packing his Beijing bags with his head held high. Here is his latest blog describing the drama of the week and pride of coming through a testing few months ...
The Championships are almost over. My last event was the 4 x 400m relays. We had two relay practices this week and each day we practiced a technique called extended relay baton changes.
It was full concentration from all involved. During our practices we were in the company of the Bahamas national teams as we shared the track. No one wanted to let the team down.
Unlike our individual event this was a team effort. We all have a responsibility to work together. The Irish team started the championships ranked 13th in the world and we needed to stay in the top 16 to qualify an Irish team for the Rio Olympics next year.
We couldn't afford any slippage. It was a tough heat but we did well.
It's a few days now since I ran my semi-final in the 800m. I know I gave my very best last Sunday in a very competitive event. I missed making the final by two places and managed to overhaul two athletes who had beaten me the previous day in my heat.
The world champion from 2013 Mohammed Aman didn't make the final. Neither did Nijel Amos, Olympic silver medallist from London 2012.
So, finishing 10th overall in the world is something which I am very proud of. I will bank this experience for Rio next year.
Just over a month ago my injury and dip in form had left me despondent. But Beijing and my Olympic qualification time has been a welcome turnaround for me. I am so happy to be able to plan for Rio a year in advance.
Visiting Beijing has been an amazing experience. The Bird's Nest is an amazing structure – over 100,000 tonnes of steel! An engineering feat and a fitting setting for these Championships.
There are zillions of people and bicycles all milling around in a hive of busyness and confusion. Katie Melua's song reckons there are nine million bicycles in the city!..... Time for a night's rest.
Mark English is one of 12 athletes being supported through the Sky Academy Sports Scholarships scheme.
The Scholarships offer a programme of support tailored to each athletes specific requirements covering areas such as funding, media coaching, mentoring and wider developmental support.
