Mark English has been handed as tough a draw as he might have imagined for the 2017 World Athletics Championships in London.
This afternoon, the Letterkenny man lines up at the London Stadium in heat five of the men’s 800 metres.
English has been troubled by injury, but won the Irish 800m title last month in Dublin having confirmed his place at the World Championships in June, when he clocked 1:45.42 at a Diamond League meet in Stockholm.
English – a European bronze medalist in 2014 and European indoor silver medalist in 2015 – has been drawn in a daunting heat today.
The UCD AC man is in with Nijel Amos from Botswana – most people’s tip for gold – as well as the current World silver medalist, Adam Kszczot from Poland.
The inclusion of Frenchman Pierre-Ambroise Bosse – the fourth-placed athlete at the 800m in last year’s Olympic Games – makes the heat more testing, given that only the top three, plus six top qualifiers, will advance to tomorrow’s semi-final.
English’s heat is at 12.45pm.
Brendan Boyce, now with Finn Valley AC, goes in the men’s 50k race walk tomorrow in London.
The Irish team is managed by Patsy McGonagle.
