Ciara Mageean achieves London 2012 1500m B standard
- Published
Mageean held of Gemma Simpson in a thrilling race in Birmingham
Ciara Mageean produced a major breakthrough as she achieved the Olympic B standard when winning the 1500m at the British Milers Club Finals in Birmingham on Saturday.
Mageean cut 2.04 seconds off her previous best as she clocked 4:07.45 to hold off British athlete and London 2012 hopeful Gemma Simpson (4:07.53).
The Portaferry woman was over a second inside the London B standard (4:08.90).
Mageean also improved her Northern Ireland senior and Irish junior marks.
The 19-year-old set a new 800m personal best of 2:02.31 in Belfast last weekend.
The Irish 1500m champion will now be optimistic that she can realistically chase the Olympic A standard of 4:06.00 next season.
After a tough campaign which saw her winning a European Junior 1500m silver medal in Estonia, Mageean is now calling time on her summer season.
Had she run an Olympic B standard before the end of July, she would have been offered a place at the upcoming World Championships in South Korea but Mageean will now be content to take a few weeks off before resuming training in the autumn.
Stephen Kerr won the C 5000m race at the BMC finals in a new personal best of 14:57.