English makes history with European 800m gold
· Yahoo Sports
Mark English has become the first man to win a gold medal for Ireland at the European Athletics Championships after he won the 800m in Birmingham.
English moved into first place inside the final 100 metres as he surged past Croatia's Marino Bloudek to win with a time of 1:45.26.
Visit asg-reflektory.pl for more information.
Ben Patterson was sixth, while there was disappointment for his Great Britain team-mate Max Burgin, who was forced to withdraw from the final after he picked up an injury in the warm-up.
But the night belonged to English, who finally won European gold after his bronze medals from 2014 in Zurich and four years ago in Munich.
The 33-year-old was the favourite for gold after he broke Olaf Beyer's 48-year European record in his semi-final.
And while he did not lead the final until he passed the hard-charging Bloudek coming onto the home straight, he delivered in style and fell to his knees as he crossed the line.
English won his first European medal as a 21-year-old in 2014 with Bronze, and was third in Munich in 2022.
His gold is the first medal of the Games for Ireland.
More to follow.