Ciara Mageean finished tenth in an extraordinarily rapid 1500m final at the World Athletics Championships in Doha.
Competing in her first ever World Championships final and Ireland’s first 1500m world finalist since Sonia O'Sullivan in 1997, the 27-year old broke her personal best by more than a second, running a time of 4:00.15.
The two time European bronze medallist end’s the season in what has been a milestone year for the Derry runner.
Mageean won bronze earlier this year in the 1500 metre final at the European Indoor Athletic Championships in Glasgow. Later she ran a new 1500m PB in Monaco, which she beat again today in Doha.
Mageean has she has pitted herself amongst the best in the world and so nearly broke the four minute mark. She is certainly on track to go under four minutes and really impress at Tokyo 2020. Her previous best at the Olympics was Rio 2016, where she reached the semi-finals.
The 1500m World Championship race was won by Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands.
Hassan finished in 3:51.95, which is a new championship record and the sixth fastest time ever for the distance.
Hassan hit the front early on, running the field both into the ground and to multiple personal bests and national records. With her win, Hassan completed a unique 1500m and 10,000m double, which has never been completed at a World Championships before.
Speaking after her race, Mageean was in top form.
"I know it's there. I ran out and ran 4.01 in a split of a mile over in Monaco and it just showed me where I can be. Give me another race and I could run sub-four but it's October. I'm ready for a break, I'm gonna fly into Dublin, watch the girls play football in Tallaght. I can't wait!
"To come 10th in the world, I'm absolutely over the moon," Mageean told Athletics Ireland.
"I knew it was going to be tough. I started falling off the back a bit but I didn't lose my head and give it everything in the final 100m."
"I'm going to work hard over the next while because I want to close that gap and compete for medals in the future."
"To come 10th in the world, I'm absolutely over the moon." ?????
A lifetime best of 4:00.15 for @ciaramageean who, as always, ran her absolute heart out in the world 1500m final in Doha pic.twitter.com/jdNbhxkTL2
— Athletics Ireland (@irishathletics) October 5, 2019Advertisement
