Ciara Mageean's Olympics are over after she missed out on qualification from the heats of the 1500m on Monday.
Mageean finished 10th in the first heat. Her placing was not good enough to take one of the six automatic spots. Neither was her time of 4:07.29 - more than seven seconds slower than her personal best - quick enough to take one of the six non-automatic places.
The Down athlete later revealed that she had suffered an injury in the build-up to the Olympics. Cathal Dennehy reported in the Irish Independent that Mageean tore a calf muscle eight days ago.
"I didn't have an ideal week leading into it," Mageean told RTÉ after the race, though at the time she did not reveal the exact nature of the injury.
"I'm not one for sharing the troubles that arise and the toughness, but it wasn't ideal.
"I picked up a little bit of a niggle, and I'm wondering if that took a little bit of my edge off."
Disappointment for @ciaramageean as a 10th place finish in a time of 4:07.29 is not enough to advance from her 1500m heat #tokyo2020 #RTESport #athletics
📺 Watch – https://t.co/ZfldwHUA2l
📱 Report - https://t.co/3rR5EHQHOW pic.twitter.com/UmNT4DOZuT— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) August 2, 2021
Prior to disclosing that she had a "niggle", Mageaan said she was "not happy" with her performance. Two years ago, she finished 10th in the 1500m final at the World Championships in Doha.
"I put myself in the race up the front," she said.
"It went out hard but not too hard. I just didn't have it in that last burn up, which I'm pretty annoyed about, and disappointed.
"The race really heated up with 600m to go. I was just in my head, 'Keep your form, keep strong'. I tried my best. It just wasn't good enough to be in that top six - I wanted an automatic Q. I'm annoyed, and I'm probably going to throw up, knowing my luck.
"I really put in all in there. I said I was going to be up, and be competitive, that's what you need to do."
‘I didn’t have an ideal week leading into it. I picked up a little niggle’ - Speaking before her 1500m elimination was confirmed, Ciara Mageean revealed an untimely injury #tokyo2020 #RTESport #athletics
📺 Watch – https://t.co/ZfldwHUA2l
📱 Updates - https://t.co/nnP3zUQ26j pic.twitter.com/vvJEJiQooF— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) August 2, 2021
Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
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