Mark English: Donegal athlete breaks Irish record in 800m win in Netherlands

Mark English became the first Irishman to break one minute 44 seconds in the 800m as he produced a superb run at the FBK Games in the Netherlands.

The 32-year-old recorded a new national record time of 1:43.92 in a brilliant win in the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold series on Monday.

That beat the record he had set just 10 days ago of 1:44.34 as he won in Bydgoszcz, Poland.

The two performances were an improvement on the previous record he also set of 1:44.53 in June 2024 in Madrid.

Monday’s win is the Donegal athlete’s third outdoor victory of the season after he also won at the Sound Running Track Fest meet in Los Angeles last month.

In March, English also won a European 800m bronze to take his European medal tally to five.

Also on Monday, Orla Comerford won the Para-athletics women’s 100m in a season’s best time of 11.96 seconds, 0.06 seconds off the Paralympic bronze medallist’s personal best.