Longford's Cian McPhillips storms to Morton Games 800m victory in World Championships qualifying standard

Longford’s Cian McPhillips produced his best ever performance as a senior athlete to win the men’s 800 metres at the Morton Games in Dublin on Friday evening last.  

A blistering finish down the home straight saw McPhillips take the victory, clocking a brilliant new personal best time of 1:44.19 for the distance 

In taking over a second off his previous lifetime best, he set the fastest men’s time ever run for the distance on Irish soil and more importantly achieved the qualifying standard for September’s World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.

A balmy evening in the Santry sunshine, coupled with no breeze, provided perfect conditions for fast running. The pace was quick through halfway which was covered in 50 seconds with Cian well positioned in fourth.

On the back straight he made the move making his way up to second place on the final bend before unleashing a superb sprint for the line to claim the win, overtaking Poland’s Maciej Wyderka who finished runner-up in a time of 1:44.40.

The winning time of 1:44.19 was three-tenths of a second inside the Tokyo standard which is all the more impressive given that it was only Cian’s third race of the outdoor season. On Wednesday evening, he finished second in the 800m at the Cork City Sports.

Ardagh’s McPhillips has bounced back in style following the disappointment of having to withdraw from March’s World Indoor Championships due to an injury sustained at the European Indoors earlier that month.

 The enforced lay-off certainly hasn’t taken any of his sharpness away and he can look forward with confidence to the National 800m finals in early August when he might well come up against Irish record holder Mark English.

English is also Tokyo-bound in September and set the fastest 800m time ever by an Irishman last month when clocking a time of 1:43.92.