Ciara Mageean’s hopes of an Olympic medal next month suffered a setback when the Portaferry woman could only finish 10th in the 1500m at the Wanda Diamond League fixture in Paris.
Mageean never got to grips with the pace as World and Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon followed the two early pacemakers through laps of 61 and 62 seconds before taking charge and coming home in 3:49.04. That was seven-hundredths better than her own record time she set in Florence last year.
Jessica Hull stuck like a limpet to the Kenyan before having to settle for second spot in an outstanding Australian record of 3:50.83. Scotland’s Laura Muir enjoyed a return to form in third with a personal best and British record of 3:53.79 as the first eight finishers all recorded new lifetime bests and/or national marks.
Among these was Dubliner Sarah Healy, in seventh, who stopped the clock at 3:57.49, over two seconds better than her previous best. Three places behind Healy, Mageean will take some consolation from a seasonal best of 3:58.69, albeit well short of her Irish record of 3:55.87.
It was only the fifth race of the season for the Portaferry woman and one of those was a heat at the European Championships in Rome, where Mageean took the 1500m gold. That was almost a month ago and may explain why she looked not entirely racing fit. She has now until August 6, when she lines up for the heats in Paris, to get back to her best.
Another highlight of the meeting came from Yaroslava Mahuchikh who cleared 2.10m for a new world record in the women’s high jump. The Ukrainian went over 2.07m at the second attempt before clearing the new record mark at the first go. That added four centimetres to the 22-year-old world champion’s previous best and a centimetre to the height cleared by Bulgaria’s Stefka Kostadinova in Rome almost 37 years ago.
The men’s 800m was also something special with the first eight finishers all running bests. Algeria’s Djamel Sedjati led the field home in a world-leading 1:41.56. He was followed home by 19-year-old Kenyan Emmanuel Wanyonyi (1:41.58) and France’s Gabriel Tual (1:41.61).
Earlier yesterday, there was good news for Sophie Becker and Jodie McCann when World Athletics published the final lists of qualifiers for the Olympics.
Becker and McCann were added to the Irish Olympic team for Paris after securing their places through the rankings to fill the final quota spots in the 400m and 5000m respectively.
Becker will join Rhasidat Adeleke and Sharlene Mawdsley in the one-lap individual event while it is a family celebration for McCann who joins her brother Luke McCann, who runs the men’s 1500m, in the team.
There was disappointment for 400m hurdler Thomas Barr who will miss out after finishing just outside the final 40-man quota.
The 2016 Rio Olympics fourth-place finisher was ranked 42nd after the qualification window closed on June 30 and was on tenterhooks last week awaiting the final World Athletics lists.
Unfortunately for the Waterford man there were not two withdrawals when federations all over the world confirmed their entries and Barr will have to console himself with a spot on the Irish mixed relay team in the French capital.