 Mark English, 2022 in Munich | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | Irish |
| Born | 18 March 1993 Letterkenny, County Donegal, Ireland |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Track and field |
| Event | 800m |
| Achievements and titles | |
| Personal bests | |
Medal record | |
Mark English (born 18 March 1993) is an Irish middle-distance runner. He is the Irish national record holder over 800 metres, both outdoors and indoors. [1]
English's home town is Letterkenny in County Donegal. He attended secondary school at St Eunan's College. [2] He only made the switch to athletics during his Transition Year, having previously played Gaelic football for Letterkenny Gaels at under-age level. [3] While a member of Letterkenny Athletic Club in his teens, he tested himself against the Gaelic footballer Caolan Ward. [4]
English studied medicine at University College Dublin (UCD), where his classmates included Dublin's multiple All-Ireland winning Gaelic footballer Jack McCaffrey—considered that sport's quickest player. English has issued a challenge to McCaffrey to take him on over 100 metres. [5] After qualifying as a doctor in 2019, he initially intended to step aside from medical practice in order to focus on athletics full-time, but when the 2020 Olympics were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he took the opportunity to complete his 12-month medical internship. [6]
At the 2014 European Athletics Championships, English won a bronze medal in the 800 metres event. [7] [8] On 8 March at the 2015 European Athletics Indoor Championships in Prague, English won a silver medal. [9] [10]
In 2014, English finished 2nd at the Adidas Grand Prix as part of the 2014 IAAF Diamond League. [11] English finished 4th at the 2014 IAAF Continental Cup, representing Team Europe. [12]
In 2015, he finished 9th at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing, China. [13]
He represented Ireland at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. [14] Later that year, English ran the 2nd quickest of all-time for 500m at the Great CityGames, finishing 2nd to 2016 Olympic 800m winner David Rudisha. [15]
On 3 March 2019, English won a bronze medal in the 800 metres at the 2019 European Athletics Indoor Championships. [16] Following this, the RTÉ analyst Jerry Kiernan (himself a former athlete) described English as historically the country's "greatest talent" in middle-distance running. [17] Several years earlier, Kiernan had claimed that English was better than Michael Murphy — the All-Ireland winning football team captain long held to be his county's greatest ever athlete. Kiernan justified this remark with the comment: "[Murphy] is playing against lads from Monaghan. Mark English is running against Kenyans". [18]
In August 2019, English won the 800m at the Birmingham 2019 Diamond League. [19]
In August 2022, he won a bronze medal in the 800m at the 2022 European Athletics Championships in Munich. [20]
In March 2025, he won a bronze medal over 800 metres at the 2025 European Athletics Indoor Championships. [21] [22] In May 2025, he ran a new 800 metres national record of 1:44.34 at the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting in Bydgoszcz. [23]
English has been active in encouraging people to read more books. [24]
