It’s being billed as the night when the 40-year-old world record for the women’s 400m might finally come under threat, only before that there’s the chance for two Irish athletes to write some World Championships history in the men’s 800m.
Cian McPhillips and Mark English have already set some firsts in getting through to Thursday’s semi-finals (1.45pm Irish time). McPhillips became the first Irish heat winner in the event on Tuesday, before English also progressed after finishing third in his heat. It’s the first time there’s been two Irish representatives in the semi-final stage of the event.
Now comes the tough part. No Irish man or woman has made an 800m final at the World Championships, and that’s the daunting task facing both McPhillips and English in Tokyo. In the event where raw speed meets sheer endurance, there’s little room for error, although both athletes look eminently capable.
They’ve come to Tokyo at the opposite ends of their running careers. For the 32-year-old English, the five-time European 800m medallist between indoors and outdoors, it might well be his last chance to make the global outdoor final he’s long pursued. The Donegal athlete has already improved his Irish record three times this season, taking it down to 1:43.37.
READ MORE
For McPhillips, the 23-year-old from Longford competing in his first outdoor World Championships, the style of victory in his 800m heat leaves no doubt he too is in the form of his career so far. With only the top two in the three semi-finals progressing to Saturday’s final, plus the two fastest non-qualifiers, qualification will once again be cut-throat.
“It’s pretty scary when you see your heat draw and you’re in with 1:42, 1:43 guys, miles ahead of my season best,” said McPhillips after winning his heat in 1:44.91. “[The semi-final] will be the best quality race I’ve ever been in by a million miles, but I’ll just do what I did there, throw myself into the mix and see what happens.”
After finishing third in his heat, won by Olympic champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi from Kenya, English was originally drawn in the toughest semi-final, alongside Wanyonyi again, plus defending champion Marco Arop from Canada and Olympic bronze medallists Djamel Sedjati from Algeria.
However, a redraw saw Wanyonyi replaced by the fellow Kenyan Nicholas Kebenei, who has a best of 1:43.54. It means English is ranked fourth fastest of the eight starters. His 1:43.37 may well need further revision.
“I’m ready for anyone in that stifling heat out there,” English said of his semi-final prospects, this being his seventh successive World Championships. Up in the first semi-final, if he does finish in the top four, it will make for an anxious watch of the two other semi-finals.
McPhillips goes in the second, with a 1:41-man for company in France’s Gabriel Tual. But there’s no disputing McPhillips’s class. A European under-20 champion in 2021, that same year he smashed the national under-20 record for 1,500m, running 3:40.56 to erase a 45-year-old record.
Injury and illness then slowed his progress from the junior to senior ranks, but the UCD athlete has bounced back this year, crediting his long-time coach Joe Ryan in Mullingar for keeping him on the right track.
A repeat of the flawless tactics shown in winning his heat would also put him in the mix, with the lay-off required after McPhillips fell in the European Indoors back in March meaning he’s only peaking now too.
Then comes the women’s 400m showdown (2.24pm Irish time). A year after Rhasidat Adeleke finished fourth in the Olympic final in Paris, there’s an entirely new interest this time around in Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, the world record holder in the 400m hurdles.
McLaughlin-Levrone is focusing on the 400m flat in Tokyo, and in Tuesday’s semi-final ran 48.29 seconds to break the US record which had stood since 2006.
With something clearly left in reserve, the question now is whether she can threaten the 47.60 world record set by Marita Koch of East Germany in 1985, even though no other woman has broken 48 seconds in the 40 years since.
The Tokyo final line-up also includes 2019 world champion Salwa Eid Naser from Bahrain and Olympic champion from Paris, Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic.
Thursday’s Irish in action (all times Irish)
Men’s 800 semi-finals – 1:45pm: Mark English; 1.53pm: Cian McPhillips
