Mark English produced an 800m lifetime best of 1:42.78 to finish sixth in the final of the World Ultimate Championship in Budapest this evening, a race won by Algeria’s Djamel Sedjati in 1:41.91.
The top three was a replication of the trio who led the field home at the Olympics in 2024 and World Championships last year, just in a different order, with Canada’s Marco Arop taking second in 1:42.28 and Kenya’s Emmanuel Wanyonyi third in 1:42.44.
English’s previous best was the 1:42.97 he ran in London in July. With a vicious early pace, 200m passed.
“I said yesterday I’d be happy if I finished first or eighth and to come away with a PB as well is a great bonus,” he said.
“The goal was to try to get the most out of my body as I knew it’d be a fast race. I’m happy with that. I ran a PB and you can never not be happy when you run a PB.”
Earlier in the evening, Rhasidat Adeleke faced disappointment in the women’s 200m semi-finals, the Dubliner clocking 22.81 (0.7m/s) to finish fifth, one place shy of a place in the final.
Olympic champion Gabby Thomas took victory in 21.88 ahead of world champion Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, with Kayla White third in 22.28 and Fabienne Hoenke edging Adeleke to the final in 22.72.
Drawn in lane three, Adeleke didn’t get off to a good start and was seventh and last at the halfway mark, but battled back into contention over the latter half, coming up less than a tenth of a second shy of a place in the final.
She finished 10th overall, earning $8,000 in prize money. She declined to speak to the media afterwards.
More to follow…