Long before Cian McPhillips become an overnight sensation in the 800 metres the alarm bells were already ringing. Such was his natural talent the only question was when, not if, the world would also wake up to his potential.
Close followers of Irish athletics will have their own different thoughts on when they first spotted McPhillips as among the most exciting middle-distance prospects of his time.
Seven years ago, perhaps, when as a Longford schoolboy he broke the national under-18 record for 3,000m, running 8:18.91 in July 2018, a month after his 16th birthday. That eclipsed the mark which had stood to John Treacy since 1974 – and faster, incidentally, than Norwegian superstar Jakob Ingebrigtsen ran at the same age.
Or the following year, maybe, when McPhillips broke the national under-18 record for 1,500m. Or indeed in 2020, when for this correspondent, he was first spotted turning international heads in the US when winning the Junior Mile at the famed Millrose Games in New York, that win giving us an early insight into tactical race acumen.
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After the pandemic hiatus, McPhillips started 2021 by running 1:46.13 for 800m at the Athletics Ireland Micro Meet at Abbotstown, pressing Mark English every stride of the of the way. It was the second fastest run indoors by an 18-year-old in European athletics history, the natural Irish succession in that event already set.
“Running 1:46 was a huge breakthrough for Cian,” said Joe Ryan, the endurance running coach at Mullingar Harriers, who has been nurturing McPhillips since he was 13. “It was phenomenal running really for an 18-year-old, and to produce that in his Leaving Cert year.”
Still fast improving, McPhillips made his first senior international appearance at the 2021 European Indoor championships in Torun, Poland, before winning the European under-20 1,500m gold medal in Tallinn, Estonia that July.
He then wrapped up his 2021 season by smashing the Irish under-20 record for 1,500m, running 3:40.56 to finally erase the time set 45 years earlier by another Longford running prodigy, Ray Flynn.
Then, by his own admission, his career hit the snooze button.
McPhillips had turned down a host of scholarship offers to attend a US university, including Stanford in California, and the University of Washington, up in Seattle. He chose instead to continue his career at UCD, studying maths, and sticking with his coach and his close family support.
There’s rarely an easy or straightforward transition from the junior to senior ranks, and there was no one reason why things seemed to stall for McPhillips. Last year, both the European Championships in Rome and the Paris Olympics were his targets, only for McPhillips to repeatedly get knocked back again, starting with long-lingering symptoms of Covid-19.
“And a lot of things changed in my life around then, moving up to Dublin, starting a reasonably heavy course load in UCD,” McPhillips told this newspaper earlier this year. “Some of it was bad luck, other things like maybe some disorganisation, were manufactured by me.
“Then some sickness, or unfortunate little niggles or injuries, at key points of the season. Like in the middle of the racing season, I hurt my back in the gym, and it just takes a while to get over that.
“So looking back now, a lot of things just didn’t go to plan. But as I’ve got older and more mature, you can make all these mistakes once, as long as it’s only once. And I think I have learned from all that, got things in order, and back to where I am now. And I’ve got better at managing other aspects of my life, around exams and study periods, all that. And the results are coming back.”
He eventually got things right back on track early this year, running 1:45.33 for 800m in Boston on St Valentine’s Day. That would have broken the national senior indoor record had English not run 1:45.15 in New York six days previously.
“This year I have got a lot of things in order,” he added. “And that’s down to the well-oiled machine, obviously my coach Joe, the physios, my parents, all keeping me ready, and grounded. Sometimes there’s some variance in these things, a couple of years where things mightn’t go to plan, but I think we’re seeing the fruits of that labour now. It’s been a bit of a long time coming.”
Four years on from Torun, he made his second senior international appearance at the European Indoor Championships in the Dutch city of Apeldoorn. There, he was tripped in his semi-final, sustaining a stress fracture that required 11 weeks off from running.
He’s also lightened some of his workload at UCD, extending his final term into 2026. “At 16, I was still quite scrawny, then I think I went through two growth spurts, up the first time, and out the second time. I look more like a 400m/800m runner now. I’ve got a lot more powerful, over the shorter distances.”
As it turned, that post-indoor break was a blessing, as it required McPhillips to delay his outdoor season, the World Championships in Tokyo coming well into September. In only his third outdoor race in July, he improved his best to 1:44.19 to win the Morton Games in Santry – an automatic qualifier for Tokyo, which meant he could now focus entirely on peaking at the World Championships.
That was magnificently evident when McPhillips became the first Irish heat winner of the World Championships 800m on Tuesday, before properly announcing himself on the global stage by also winning his semi-final on Thursday, running 1:43.18.
It improved his own best by over a second, breaking the Irish record of 1:43.37 set by English last month.
One of the telling comments made by McPhillips after that race was about the faith he’s kept in his coaching and support team in Ireland, when some people still believe he might have been better served attending a US college.
“Some people give out, you can’t really do it in Ireland, or maybe the environment isn’t there,” he said. “I haven’t had that experience. I think I’ve a fantastic team around me. My family, my friends, my coach Joe Ryan, my S&C and speed coach Martina McCarthy.
“I’ve a fantastic set up, numerous people supporting me, and delighted I could finally deliver after all these years.”
Now, some 10 years after his father Paddy introducing him to Ryan, recognising the need to afford his son some proper coaching, McPhillips is the first Irish athlete to make the 800m final at the World Championships.
