Mageean wins World junior silver medal

Posted in: Other Sports | Read Comments (0)

In world athletics, few runners have challenged the African dominance in middle and long distance events. But Portaferry teenager Ciara Mageean did just that on Sunday winning a silver medal at The World Junior Athletics Championships in Canada.

For over 30 years, medal rostrums at Olympic and world championships have been populated by Kenyan and Ethiopian athletes, reflecting the power struggle for east African supremacy. So when a dozen of the finest junior women middle distance runners toed the line for the start of the 1500 metre final at the World Junior Championships in Canada on Sunday, few expected the status quo to be broken.

With 2 laps of the race remaining, an African quintet had already stormed to the front after covering the first lap in a suffocating 61 seconds, but lurking two seconds behind the bunch the girl in the green vest gritted her teeth. By lap three the Canadian television commentators were struggling to come up with a name for the Irish interloper who was gaining ground. "This is a fine run by the Irish girl Seera Mein," observed one. "Certainly not what we expected at this stage of the race," offered another.

By now Mageean had found herself in a ferocious tussle with the five African runners and had muscled her way back into contention. But would this brave burst last? Down the back straight on the final lap we were about to see why Ciara is being compared to the best runner to leave these shores, Sonia O’Sullivan.

Spotting a gap between two of the Kenyan runners, she powered her way through into second place and moved to the shoulder of the Ethiopian, Tizita Bogale. The two were locked together moving into the last 150 metres and pulling clear of the field. No one had told Ciara Mageean she couldn’t disrupt the African medal party. She simply had the belief she was going to win.

But down the final straight, Bogale inched ahead, her final kick for the finishing line just too much for the Portaferry teenager who was delighted to win silver.