European Athletics Championships: Mark English through to semi-finals, Cian McPhillips misses out

Michael Bolton

Mark English is through to the semi-finals of the 800m of the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham after winning his heat.

English won with a time of 1:46.96 to advance to Wednesday's semi-final.

He was expected to be joined by Cian McPhillips, but it was not to be, as he looked far from his usual self, finishing seventh in his heat.

The Longford athlete was suffering from a virus he picked up last week, his coach Joe Ryan said following the race.

McPhillips looked reasonably okay in the first lap, before dropping back to seventh in 1:46,84, well off his Irish record of 1:42.15.

Ciara Neville crossed the line in fifth in her 100-metres heat - her time of 11-point-2-9 seconds was enough to qualify for the semis later.

The top-12 fastest times from the three heats all progressed to the semi-finals on Monday evening, Neville ending up 10th overall with her time of 11.29 seconds.

The Limerick woman joins the top-12 seeded runners in the semi-finals which get under way at 8.10pm, with Neville’s semi-final due to be run at 8.18pm.

Lauren Roy missed out on qualification for the next round.

Jack Raftery made the most of his chance of progressing in the 400m, also based on the top-12 times, when he nailed second in his heat in 45.81 seconds