Mark English breaks his own Irish 800m record to qualify for Paris Olympics

Mark English achieved the Olympic qualifying standard time on Tuesday evening file photo .

MARK ENGLISH IS set to become a three-time Olympian this summer after he sealed his qualification for Paris 2024 in Finland on Tuesday evening.

The Donegal native ran 1:44.69 to finish second in the 800m at the Paavo Nurmi Games, bettering his three-year old national record by two-hundredths of a second.

Crucially, English’s time just dipped under the Olympic qualification standard time of 1:44.70, booking his ticket to Paris.

Meanwhile, Sarah Lavin — who has already secured Olympic qualification — put her European Championship disappointment behind her as she clocked a season’s best of 12.66 seconds to finish third in the 60m hurdles.

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Of those Irish athletes seeking to climb the rankings ahead of the Olympic cut-off, Cathal Doyle won the 1500m in a personal best time of 3:34.09, leading home an Irish 1-2 ahead of Luke McCann (3:34.32), while Louise Shanahan’s 2:02.59 in the 800m was a season’s best.

Recently-crowned European relay champion Thomas Barr finished fourth in the 400m hurdles in 49.46.