News

Cathal Doyle produced the race of his life at the Stade de France tonight to narrowly miss out on a Olympic 1500m final place. The Clonliffe Harriers clubman finished 10th in his semi-final, clocking a massive personal best of 3:33.15, almost one second quicker than his previous best.

Doyle, who is from Swords, executed his race magnificently and with 100 metres to go remained in contention before fading slightly in the closing stages as the leaders pulled away. His time moves him to second on the Irish all-time list for the event behind Andrew Coscoran.

The 26-year-old was upbeat when reflecting afterwards: “I wasn’t a million miles off an Olympic final. I don’t think the repechage was a bad thing. I was a different man today and yesterday. I was way more relaxed, chilling out, I wasn’t even thinking of the race until the warmup.

“Before the heat I didn’t sleep a wink dreaming of missing the bus. When you’re running with a crowd like this, the first 800m is just gone, the race just goes really quickly. The crowd are unreal. I don’t know how I’ll go back to racing in front of one hundred people in a few weeks.”

Doyle finished the semi-final in 10th, which saw him 16th overall on times.

Tomorrow

Tallaght sprinter Rhasidat Adeleke makes her Olympic debut on Monday morning in the heats of the Women’s 400m.

The Irish record holder in the event has been in sensational form this season, lowering her personal best to 49.07 to win a silver medal at the European Athletics Championships in Rome in June, while she also broke the Irish 100m record at the National Athletics Championships recently.

Adeleke will be in action in the final heat of the event at 11:35am and has the fastest personal best in the field. The top three athletes automatically advance to the semi-final with all remaining athletes heading to Tuesday morning’s repechage.

Directly before Adeleke, Sharlene Mawdsley will race in the penultimate heat, as she looks to replicate what she achieved in Budapest at the World Championships last summer by making another global semi-final.

The Tipperary star qualified for these Games individually by running a personal best of 50.72 in Poland in May to move second on the Irish All-Time List behind Adeleke. Olympic champion Marileidy Paulino (Dominican Republic) will be inside Mawdsley.

Competing in her second Olympic Games Sophie Becker will be first up for the Irish racing in the opening heat. The Wexford woman has, like her two compatriots, been in the form of her life this season but will face a stiff task to advance with five sub-51 second athletes in her race.