Ciara Mageean has won Ireland’s first medal at this year’s European Championships.
She took silver in the women’s 1,500 metres tonight in Munich with a season’s best time of 4:02.56.
SILVER FOR MAGEEAN - 'This is the best she has ever run in the championship!' @CiaraMageean takes a silver medal with a magnificent run at the European Championships 1500m, GB's Laura Muir taking gold
? https://t.co/XnOP6grnB7 pic.twitter.com/T8p4g7bq8I— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) August 19, 2022
Mageean was just over a second behind the gold of Laura Muir - with the pair embracing each other in admiration of their rivalry afterward.
Notably, the Portaferry runner finished over a second ahead of the fancied Sofia Ennaoui of Poland.
The silver medal is one of the biggest achievements of Mageean's career so far, having claimed bronze medals at European indoor and outdoor championships.
'I was going around, seeing all the tricolours and I'm feeling bit emotional' - @ciaramageean reacts after her silver medal in Munich, paying tribute to the Irish young guns, gives a shout-out to Portaferry and the late Jerry Kiernan #rtesport
? https://t.co/W98hM5ljMT pic.twitter.com/VuJlAh8dSQ— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) August 19, 2022
The 30-year-old also finished tenth in the world 1,500 metre final in 2019.
The medal comes as cheery on the cake after what has been a tremendous week for Irish athletes so far.
Sprint superstar Israel Olatunde set a new Irish 100m record with his memorable sixth place finish.
The Dundalk native clocked a time of 10.17 seconds, breaking the 15-year-old record held by Paul Hession.
Elsewhere, Rhasidat Adeleke set pulses racing with a new national and a 5th-place finish in the individual 400m, only later to run the fastest leg across both heats of the 4x400m.
The final of that much anticipated event gets underway tonight at 8:45 PM.
Mark English has also qualified automatically for Sunday’s 800-metre final by placing third in his semi-final.
