Mark English breaks 26 year old Irish 800m record

Mark English has broken the Irish 800m record with a 1:44.71 in Castellón, Spain this evening. The time takes 0.11 off the record held by David Matthews since 1995.

Irish all-time list before this evening's run:

The second place finish comes on the back of a string of stunning performances from the Finn Valley AC athlete in recent weeks and has also secured the Olympic qualification standard with hours to spare.

English's own best previous time at 800m is 1:44.84, recorded in London back in 2013.

There were also a number of athletes in action in Lucerne this evening as they look to book their Olympic spots.

North Sligo's AC's Chris O'Donnell produced the run of his life this evening to finish second in the 400m. His 45.55 takes 0.31 off his PB.

Sarah Lavin was also in action and continued her run of consistent performances with a 13:16 in the 100mH which should be enough to see her on the plane to Toyko.

Andrew Coscoran finished 8th in the 1500m at the same meet in a time of 3:43:15. Coscoran will now wait to see if his recent string of fine performances will be enough to keep him in the qualifying spots for Tokyo.

Eilish Flanagan finished second in the 3000m Steeplechase in 9.42.71 which leaves her right on the brink of Olympic qualification with still time for changes to the rankings.