Record Breaker: Longford’s Cian McPhillips storms to a stunning semi-final win in the 800m at the World Athletics Championships

Longford’s Cian McPhillips announced himself on the world stage on Thursday with a brilliant record-breaking performance to win his semi-final at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo and setting a new National Record in the process in a personal best time of 1:43.18.   

Following a very impressive run to claim victory in Tuesday’s heat, Cian took to the start line of the second 800m semi-final in wet conditions at the Japan National Stadium.

With only two automatic qualifier spots available, the competition was intense with a top calibre field of eight men all contending for a place in Saturday’s final. These included former World Champion Donovan Brazier of the USA as well as the reigning European Champion in France’s Gabriel Tual.

A brisk opening lap saw the leaders go through halfway in 51 seconds with Cian in sixth position. He made a smart move to the outside of lane one on the back straight before moving strongly on the final bend up to second place behind Briton Max Burgin.

On the home straight, Cian showed his speed to move clear of Burgin and cross the finish line first in a superb time of 1:43.18. Not only did Cian take a second off his lifetime best, he also set a new national record taking two-tenths of a second off the previous Irish record held by Mark English.

A performance of much quality by McPhillips who looks right at home on the international stage despite it being only his first global championship. He has become the first Irishman to ever reach a world 800m final.

Cian advances to Saturday’s final which will take place at 2.22pm (Irish time).

The unbelievable performance marks another milestone for the 23-year-old, who previously claimed Gold at the 2021 European U-20 Championships.

Speaking after the race, McPhillips said: “It hasn’t sunk in yet. I had a feeling it was coming, I felt really good two days ago, but I’ve never raced against fields this good, so it’s hard to know sometimes if you have it or not. I went for it when Max (Burgin) took off and thankfully I was able to hold on to the end.”

Commenting on his new national record, McPhillips said: “I’ve been working hard the last couple of years and it hasn’t really come together, so to the outside it probably looks like a huge jump, but to me I’ve seen it come out in training and now we’re finally seeing it come out in races, so I’m delighted”.

Mark English finished third in his 800m semi-final with a time of 1:45.47. Despite a bold move to lead before the final bend, English was overtaken in the closing stages and narrowly missed out on a place in the final. The Finn Valley athlete bows out on the back of another hugely impressive showing, with one of Ireland’s most successful track athletes finishing in 18th place overall.