‘I wanted to get the best out of myself' – Mark English smashes his Irish 800m record in Budapest
English had been in fine form since then, powering to his 10th national outdoor title over 800m earlier this month ahead of Cian McPhillips. 'Hopefully, I'll have another race or two before the World Championships and I can't wait for that because I'm in great shape at the minute,' he said afterwards. 'I'd like to be able to show it with a time.'
English bided his time midway through the final lap and unleashed his typically strong finish to take the runner-up spot, his time moving him joint-16th on the world list for 2025 and carving over half a second off his Irish record, marking the third time this season that he has run under 1:44.
English had a number of world-class operators behind him, with Spain's Mariano Garcia – a former world indoor and European champion – fourth in 1:43.84, while reigning European Indoor champion Sam Chapple was fifth in 1:43.96 and 2023 world bronze medallist Ben Pattison came home seventh in 1:44.14.
English, who won his fifth European medal by taking bronze at the European Indoors in the Netherlands in March, has never made a global final, but as the countdown continues to next month's World Championships in Tokyo, he looks to have a decent chance of doing so this year.
He has yet to announce if this will be his last season. 'I don't really like to put a clock on my career,' he said in June. 'If you think you're retiring at a certain point, that might change how you come into a race; it might change your motivation.'
He said part of his motivation to continue this year was to run under 1:44 for the first time. 'I wanted to get the best out of myself in terms of what I knew I was capable of doing,' he said. 'I knew I had a 1:43 in me and I felt it would be very hard for me to hang up my spikes if I didn't achieve what I knew I was capable of doing.'
Pole vault superstar Mondo Duplantis set his 13th world record at the meeting with a 6.29m clearance, a one-centimetre increase on the world record height he cleared in Stockholm in June, the Swede going over it on his second try.
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