World Championships: English misses out on Beijing final

Mark English sprints for the line in his 800m heat in Beijing

Mark English has failed to make the 800m final at the World Championships after finishing fifth in his semi-final in Beijing on Sunday.

The Letterkenny athlete ran an impressive 1:45.55, which was the 11th fastest time in the semi-finals.

English's run was also over a second quicker than his time in Saturday's heats at Beijing National Stadium.

The 22-year-old progressed to the semi-finals as a fastest loser from the heats, where he clocked 1:46.69.

A back injury severely inhibited English during the early stages of his summer campaign.

The UCD runner finished out of the medals at the European Under-23 Championships in the early part of July.

However, he showed a return to form as he mixed it with several of the world's best when he took fourth at the London Anniversary Games with his time of 1:45.49 also a qualifying mark for next year's Olympics.

That time was .65 outside his personal best set in 2013.

Irish 400m hurdles star Thomas Barr also missed out on a place in a final after finishing fourth in his semi-final.

Waterford man Barr, 23, ran 48.71 on Sunday, an improvement on his 49.20 in Saturday's heats.

Meanwhile, Ciara Mageean improved her 1,500m personal best to 4:07.33 when she took victory at the British Milers Club meeting in Solihull on Saturday night.

The Portaferry woman, who is chasing Olympic qualifying time of 4:06, cut .12 off her previous best set in 2011.

Mageean opted to miss the Worlds despite being offered a place.