Mark English carved half a second off his Irish indoor 800m record when powering to victory in 1:44.65 at the CMCM Luxembourg Indoor Meeting on Sunday afternoon. The 32-year-old Donegal athlete ran a patient race, sitting off the pace in the opening half and striking the front entering the last turn – his time equalling the meeting record and smashing the national record of 1:45.15 that he’d run at the Millrose Games in New York last year. It continues a fine start to the year for English, who opened his season last Wednesday with an Irish indoor 600m record, clocking 1:15.80 at the Track and Field Live meeting in Abbotstown. McPhillips will have his eyes on English’s 600m record when he lines up at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in Boston on Saturday. Emma Moore was also in action in Luxembourg and the Galway City Harrier again broke new ground over 800m, setting an Irish U-23 indoor record of 2:02.34 to finish second behind local athlete Fanny Arendt (2:00.83).
