Record-breaker: Mark English sets new Irish 800m record to win in Poland

Mark English set a new Irish 800m record in Poland on Friday evening.

The Finn Valley AC athlete clocked 1:44.34 to win at the Irena Szewińska Memorial, a World Athletics Continental Tour gold level meet.

English eased through the last 100m, gliding over the line in at time that takes 0.19 of a second off his previous best.

From lane seven, English look comfortable around two laps of the Zdzisław Krzyszkowiak Stadium in Bydgoszcz, lowing the Irish record from 1:44.53 - a time he clocked last summer.

The Letterkenny native, who won European indoor bronze earlier this year, was second at the bell and once again showed his real tactical nous to move into a winning position.

The 32-year-old medical doctor won from Marino Bloudek of Croatia, who finished in 1:44.74 - a new personal best - while Poland’s Filip Ostrowski also set a new PB when coming third in 1:44.96.

Last weekend, English won the men’s 800m at the Track Fest meet in Los Angeles 1:44.75.

This will be a long season for athletes with the World Athletics Championships not taking place until mid-September in Tokyo, but English was happy with how he nipped in past Moad Zahafi to the finish.

English was on a training camp in Flagstaff in recent weeks with Justin Rinaldi and the Fast 8 Track Club before racing in LA.

In March, English won the 800m bronze - the fifth European medal of his career - at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn, Netherlands.

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English clocked 1:45.46 and was behind only Samuel Chapple and Eliott Crestan at the Omnisport before illness ruled him out of the subsequent Worlds Indoors in Nanjing, China.

Earlier in the year, the Letterkenny native set a new Irish indoor 800m record of 1:45.15 while running at the Millrose Games in New York.