Ciara Mageean qualified for the final of the 1500m at the European Championships in Munich this morning with relative ease.
Mageean, who is a member of City of Lisburn AC, controlled her heat from the front, staying out of trouble and ultimately finished second behind Poland's Sofia Ennaoui, in a new season's best time of 4.03.03.
Ciara Mageean to contest for medal in European final
The Down native is in excellent form having ran an impressive race less than two weeks ago to win silver at the Commonwealth Games behind Scotland's Laura Muir.
Many observers described it as Mageean's best ever race and it has given her confidence going into this championships where he is hoping to challenge for a medal in Friday evening's final.
Ciara Mageean through the 1500m final with an impressive display🙌🇮🇪
Mageean controlled the race from the front and crossed in a 4:03.03 SB (2nd place)✅
1500m final set for Friday evening🙌
Result: https://t.co/4jefK7Z9VB#Munich2022 pic.twitter.com/ghYu1BIoHc— Athletics Ireland (@irishathletics) August 16, 2022
Having medalled before at the Europeans in 2016, the 30-year-old will feel that she is capable of doing so again.
Ciara Mageean runs in the 1500m final on Friday evening at 7:45pm Irish time.
Sarah Healy also raced in the 1500m heats this morning and was left disappointed with her 11th place finish in 4.10.75, failing to make the final.
The UCD athlete who is from Blackrock in Dublin gave an honest assessment of her performance post-race.
"It was terrible. I do struggle a lot mentally (at championships), I thought I got it sorted but it's like my energy just goes.
"It's like I don't care when I'm racing, even though I care so much.
"If I'd just been a bit tougher I could have kept going, but I just decided to check out - again. I keep learning the same lessons, so it's tough."
Brendan Boyce was Ireland's sole competitor in the 35km Race Walk. Boyce, who finished sixth in the World Championships over 50km in 2019, has been a vocal critic of the removal of the 50km from major championships.
He moved up from 18th after 20k to ultimately finish 10th, a solid performance from the Finn Valley AC man.
SEE ALSO: Every Irish Medallist At The European Athletics Championships
