By:
Conor Martin
Cian McPhillips smashed the Irish 800m record and put in the performance of his career as he won his 800m semi-final in the World Athletics Championships.
McPhillips booked his place in the final with a magnificent time of one minute and 43.18 seconds in his semi-final in Tokyo. Breaking the record of one minute and 43.37 that Mark English set in August.
The Longford native has been impressive so far at the 2025 championships, but surprised many who sat up and took notice of his performance on Thursday. McPhillips was calm and composed and worked his way to the front on the final bend before going for the kill and the Irish record on the home straight, taking victory ahead of Britain’s Max Burgin (1:43.37) and the USA’s former world champion Donavan Brazier (1:43.82).
The young Irishman will now race in the men’s 800m World Athletics Championship final on Saturday and is currently an 8/1 outsider with Irish sports betting sites to win the title, which would be a historic moment in Irish athletics.
Cian McPhillips knew impressive semi-final performance was coming
Speaking to Irish broadcaster RTÉ after the race, McPhillips said: “It hasn’t sunk in yet. I had a feeling it was coming, I felt really good two days ago, but I’ve never raced against fields this good, so it’s hard to know sometimes if you have it or not. I went for it when Max (Burgin) took off, and thankfully I was able to hold on to the end.”
When reflecting on being the new holder of the 800m men’s national record, McPhillips said: “I’ve been working hard the last couple of years, and it hasn’t really come together, so to the outside it probably looks like a huge jump, but to me I’ve seen it come out in training, and now we’re finally seeing it come out in races, so I’m delighted”.
The final, in which McPhillips has a great chance of picking up a medal, will be held on Saturday at 2.22pm Irish time. Both RTÉ and BBC will be showing it live, with RTÉ 2 beginning the coverage at 11 am while athletics will be live from Tokyo from 10:30am on BBC 2.
English narrowly misses out on final place
However, there was some disappointment from an Irish persuasion. Former 800m record holder English came home third in his semi-final, clocking 1:45.47, which was not enough to advance as a non-automatic qualifier after the top two from each semi had earned their place in Saturday’s final.
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