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Irish middle-distance runner (born 1993) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mark English (born 18 March 1993) is an Irish middle-distance runner.[2]
 Mark English, 2022 in Munich | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | Irish |
| Born | 18 March 1993 Letterkenny, County Donegal, Ireland |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Track and field |
| Event | 800m |
| Achievements and titles | |
| Personal bests |
|
Medal record | |
English's home town is Letterkenny in County Donegal. He attended secondary school at St Eunan's College.[3] He only made the switch to athletics during his Transition Year, having previously played Gaelic football for Letterkenny Gaels at under-age level.[4] While a member of Letterkenny Athletic Club in his teens, he tested himself against the Gaelic footballer Caolan Ward.[5]
English studied medicine at University College Dublin (UCD), where his classmates included Dublin's multiple All-Ireland winning Gaelic footballer Jack McCaffrey—considered that sport's quickest player. English has issued a challenge to McCaffrey to take him on over 100 metres.[6] After qualifying as a doctor in 2019, he initially intended to step aside from medical practice in order to focus on athletics full-time, but when the 2020 Olympics were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he took the opportunity to complete his 12-month medical internship.[7]
At the 2014 European Athletics Championships, English won a bronze medal in the 800 metres event.[8][9] On 8 March at the 2015 European Athletics Indoor Championships in Prague, English won a silver medal.[10][11]
In 2014, English finished 2nd at the Adidas Grand Prix as part of the 2014 IAAF Diamond League.[12] English finished 4th at the 2014 IAAF Continental Cup, representing Team Europe.[13]
In 2015, he finished 9th at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing, China.[14]
He represented Ireland at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.[15] Later that year, English ran the 2nd quickest of all-time for 500m at the Great CityGames, finishing 2nd to 2016 Olympic 800m winner David Rudisha.[16]
On 3 March 2019, English won a bronze medal in the 800 metres at the 2019 European Athletics Indoor Championships.[17] Following this, the RTÉ analyst Jerry Kiernan (himself a former athlete) described English as historically the country's "greatest talent" in middle-distance running.[18] Several years earlier, Kiernan had claimed that English was better than Michael Murphy — the All-Ireland winning football team captain long held to be his county's greatest ever athlete. Kiernan justified this remark with the comment: "[Murphy] is playing against lads from Monaghan. Mark English is running against Kenyans".[19]
In August 2019, English won the 800m at the Birmingham 2019 Diamond League.[20]
In August 2022, he won a bronze medal in the 800m at the 2022 European Athletics Championships in Munich.[21]
English has been active in encouraging people to read more books.[22]
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