ATHLETICS:AT THIS rate it may only be a matter of time before Mark English runs the Olympic A-standard but for now improving his own Irish junior 800 metres record to 1:45.77 on Saturday evening represents another significant breakthrough.

English admitted that he didn’t expect to run 1:45 so soon, and yet there is clearly more to come: it knocked 1.32 seconds off his previous record of 1:47.09, and also left him just .17 short of the London A-standard of 1:45.60. Not bad for a 19-year-old.

Perhaps most importantly English won the race, in what was a fairly high quality field at the Flanders International meeting in Oordegem, Belgium. The Letterkenny runner imposed himself with typical self-assurance, easily holding off the more seasoned runners, with South Africa’s Reinhardt Van Rensburg taking second in 1:46.91.

There was further reward for English in that his 1:45.77 was also well inside the World Junior qualifying mark for later this summer, and also the European Championships in Helsinki next month – while also leaping him up to fifth on the Irish all-time list, forcing Marcus O’Sullivan, with his best of 1:45.87, down to sixth.

At the same meet Waterford’s Jessie Barr finished second in the 400m hurdles in a new personal best of 56.16, well inside the European Standard of 57.10, and also edging her closer to the London A-standard of 55.50. This was also the third fastest Irish performance of all time. Younger brother Thomas Barr reduced his 400m hurdles season’s best to 51.50 to finish fifth in the men’s race, while Derval O’Rourke put her flat speed to the test running in 100m in 11.84 for second place.

Orla Drumm of UCC is also on the way to Helsinki after running 4:09.05 in Dessau, Germany – improving her best by some three seconds. At the same meeting, Steven Colvert of Crusaders won the 200m in 20.78.

Among the athletes competing in the US at the weekend were Tori Pena, who won the pole vault in Chula Vista, California, with a clearance of 4.50m – just 2cm shy of her Irish record; Paralympic star Jason Smyth also continued his search for the Olympic 100m A standard in Florida, clocking times of 10.34 and 10.35 seconds – although still short of the necessary 10.18.