Mark English Breaks Irish Indoor 800m Record with 1:44.65 at CMCM Indoor Meeting Luxembourg
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Mark English smashed the Irish indoor 800m record with a commanding victory at the CMCM Indoor Meeting, a World Athletics Indoor Tour Silver event, in Luxembourg on Sunday evening (18).
The five-time European medallist tracked Poland’s Maciej Wyderka through the opening laps before unleashing a decisive kick with just over 100 metres remaining. English crossed the line in 1:44.65, equalling the meeting record set last year by Spain’s Elvin Canales and becoming the first Irishman to break the 1:45 barrier indoors.
The 32-year-old lowered his own Irish indoor record of 1:45.15—set last year—by half a second and now moves to joint sixth on the European indoor all-time list for the 800m.
Results Men’s 800 Metres (Short Track)
| Pos. | Athlete | Nation | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mark English | IRL | 1:44.65 |
| 2 | Maciej Wyderka | POL | 1:45.38 |
| 3 | Patryk Sieradzki | POL | 1:47.09 |
| 4 | Tibo De Smet | BEL | 1:47.13 |
| 5 | Tony van Diepen | NED | 1:47.73 |
| 6 | Ferguson Cheruiyot Rotich | KEN | 1:48.54 |
| 7 | Louison Subtil | FRA | 1:48.61 |
| 8 | Álvaro de Arriba | ESP | 1:48.69 |
| 9 | Jory Teixeira | LUX | 1:50.21 |
| — | Łukasz Zaczyk | POL | DNF |
Luxembourg’s Patrizia Van der Weken continued her remarkable run of form, claiming her fourth consecutive women’s 60m victory at her home meeting. The reigning European and world indoor medallist clocked 7.14—matching her heat time—to defeat Spain’s Jaël Bestué (7.18).
Van der Weken narrowly missed the sprint double, finishing third in the 200m in 23.28 as Spain’s Paula Sevilla took victory in 23.16.
Another home highlight came from Luxembourg’s Fanny Arendt, who stormed to victory in the women’s 800m in a national indoor record and lifetime best of 2:00.83.
Belgium’s Pieter Sisk delivered another standout performance in the men’s 1500m, winning in solo fashion in a meeting record 3:34.66.
In the men’s 3000m, Ruben Verheyden from Belgium surged clear in the closing stages to win in 7:40.31 ahead of Luxembourg favourite Ruben Querinjean, who improved his own national indoor record to 7:40.72.
European indoor champion Jakub Szymanski secured back-to-back victories in the men’s 60m hurdles, stopping the clock at 7.48.
Elsewhere, Germany’s Jean-Paul Bredau won the men’s 400m in a meeting record 45.94, while France’s Bérénice Petit took the pole vault with 4.45m and Spain’s Jaime Guerra claimed the long jump with 7.84m.
