Portaferry’s Ciara set to miss out on Euros

Portaferry’s Ciara set to miss out on Euros

3 March 2021

PORTAFERRY’S Ciara Mageean has withdrawn from the Ireland team to take part in the European Indoor Athletics Championships, which begin tomorrow in Poland.

In a shock announcement, Mageean said she was taking the decision after recent “setbacks”.

The 28-year old has struggled in her two most recent indoor races in Germany and England.

“I am just not where I want to be in order to compete in the European Indoor Champs and do myself and the Irish vest justice,” she said.

Mageean won the bronze medal in the 1500m at the last European Championships in Glasgow two years ago.

She said she had decided to opt out of the championships following consultations with her Manchester-based coach Steve Vernon.

She  said she felt the decision was the right one in order to best prepare for the summer ahead. Ciara became the first Irishwoman to go under two minutes for 800m last summer when she improved the national record to 1.59.69 in a milestone performance.

She then broke Sonia O’Sullivan’s 27-year-old Irish 1000m record during arguably the best performance of her career in a stellar field in Monaco. However afterwards, her form dipped in the closing three outings of her outdoor campaign.

She appeared to be back on the right path back when she comfortably broke nine minutes to win a 3000m in Manchester in early January.

However, she finished a distant last in her 1500m race at the World Indoor Tour meeting in Karlsruhe, Germany.

Afterwards she said the unexpected death of her former coach, Jerry Kiernan, the previous week, had taken “more from me than I anticipated”.

She attempted to regroup in a relatively low-key 800m race in Manchester a couple of weeks ago, but could only finish fourth in a time of 2.04.40.