OLYMPIC medal hope Ciara Mageean opened her 2024 season in sensational fashion by lowering her own Irish senior 800m record at the British Milers Club meet in Manchester.
The Portaferry runner crossed the line in 1:58.51 to knock well over half a second off her previous record of 1:59.27 which she had set at the same meet on this weekend last year.
Manchester based City of Lisburn AC athlete Mageean finished second in a highly competitive race behind 17-year-old British athlete Phoebe Gill who took victory in 1:58.08.
Phoebe, it will be remembered, set a new European U18 record with her 1:57.86 win in the women’s 800m in the Irish Milers event at the Mary Peters Track in Belfast earlier this month.
Mageean holds the national records over 800m, 1500m and Mile, and had a fantastic 2023 season finishing fourth in the Women’s 1500m at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest last August.
The 32-year-old will be hoping for many more big performances as the summer progresses as she builds towards the Olympic Games in Paris in August where she is expected to race over 1500m in an Ireland vest.
Also racing in Manchester was Sarah Healy (UCD AC) who finished fourth in the same race.
The 23-year-old clocked a new personal best of 2:00.86 which sees her move to eighth on the Irish All-Time List.
Healy will also have her eyes set on Paris this summer where she, like Mageean, has qualified in the 1500m.
