From Athletics Northern Ireland City of Lisburn’s Ciara Mageean has just finished her heat in the 1500m at the World Junior Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland and has qualified for the final! She ran a storming PB of 4.21.73 in a closely fought race where she sat in second place for most of it. The Northern Ireland athlete’s time cut .56secs off her previous best set in Germany in June.
Kosinki (USA), Britain’s Twell and Delaney of
Australia finished just ahead of her in a race which seen 4 of the top 5 claim PBs.
Ciara’s dip at the finish ahead of Sujew of Germany gave her a well rewarded spot in the final. Coach Eamonn Christie expressed his delight and said it “was a great race in which Ciara covered every move”. The 1500m final takes place on Sunday at 5pm Polish time.
Mageean won the the Irish Senior Indoor 1500m title in January.
That victory made earned the 15-year-old headlines throughout Ireland and she has built on that success this summer by setting a personal best of 4:22.29 when finishing second in the recent high-class international junior meeting in Mannheim.
At only 16 years of age, Ciara has a bright future ahead of her.
The 4x100m heats takes place later this afternoon.
[Pictured: Photofinish of the 1500m where Mageean earns her spot in a World Junior Final]