It’s such a rare thing to see an Irish athlete hot on the heels of the world record holder, making it look easy, yet Ciara Mageean did exactly that when qualifying with quite remarkable ease for the semi-final of the women’s 1,500 metres inside the Olympic Stadium.
It’s not often an Irish athlete displays such composure and confidence either, especially in her Olympic debut, as Mageean covered and then made all the right moves to finish second behind Genzebe Dibaba from Ethiopia, who took the win in 4:10.61, with the Irish woman just a few strides back in 4:11.51.
Only the first six of the 14-women field were assured of qualification for the semi-finals on Sunday night (1.30am Monday, Irish time), yet Mageean was never outside those places: sitting neatly in third at the bell, she was the only one then capable of chasing Dibaba down the backstretch, the gold medal favourite who last summer ran 3:50.07 to break the long-standing world record.
Indeed coming into the homestretch, Mageean had a few yards to spare on the chasing pack, too, with Brenda Martinez from the USA coming through to take third in 4:11.74, with Linda Hall from Australia a close fourth in 4:11.75.
“If I didn’t think I’d qualify, I wouldn’t be here,” answered Mageean on qualifying for the semi-finals: she also admitted she drew inspiration from the silver medal-winning rowing brothers Paul and Gary O’Donovan earlier in the day. “It was great to see them medal and gives more motivation to perform at this level. I ran my own race and I just need to stay focused for the semi-finals.”
The early pace had been slow, the first lap passed in 72.77, and 800m in 2:21.22, although not as slow as the European Championship final burn-up in Amsterdam last month, where Mageean also ran with maturity beyond her years to win the bronze medal, in what was her first senior championships, and first appearance in an Irish vest after four years dogged by injury.
Now the 24 year-old Down woman is only one more race away from an Oympic final: Sunday night’s semi-finals will of course present a greater challenge, but in this sort of form, and running with this sort of composure and confidence, it’s certainly within her reach.
The second heat was a little faster, with reigning European champion Sifan Hassan from the Netherlands taking the win in 4:06.04, looking easy and almost certain to be one of the medal contenders, while the third and final heat was faster again, won by the other Ethiopian Dawit Seyaum, who fairly belted out the win in 4:05.33.
That might well be the sort of time Mageean will need to run to make the final, her current best being 4:06.49, but there’s clearly more to come, and more importantly the chance to now prove it.
