Friday 24 March 2017 13:00, UK
Rising star Mark English has endured a very emotional few months after losing two medical school classmates and a stuttering start to his athletics season.
The 22-year-old Sky Academy Scholar was in dazzling form last weekend as he fought valiantly in a stellar field to finish fourth at the Anniversary Games in front of 80,000 screaming fans at London's Olympic Stadium.
His time of 1 minute 45.49 seconds was his fastest of the season and surpassed the qualifying mark for next year's Games in Rio. Perhaps a medal awaits the Dublin medical student at the World Championships in August in Beijing?
English was buzzing after putting on such a fine show, but since his arrival as a new Sky Academy Scholar in April, events on and off the track are shaping his determination and attitude towards the sport.
Here are Mark's latest words on struggling for form, teaming up with his Sky mentor Darren Campbell and dealing with the sudden deaths of three people very close to him.......
The track and field season is well under way. In an ideal world I would be in the process of ticking off my goals for the summer. In the real world that’s not always the way it happens.
My grandfather died unexpectedly in May at the start of my end of year medical exams. I attended his funeral in the morning and arrived in Dublin three hours later to sit my first exam. Not ideal. But that it is what grandad would have wanted me to do.
He always had a keen interest in his grandchildren’s academic endeavours. He was also a big sports fan and even at the age of 88 was fully tuned into athletic events and performances. He enjoyed the celebrations of my two European medals from Zurich last August and Prague in March of this year.
With my college exams finished I enjoyed a couple of successful races. I ran the qualification standard for the World Championships in Hengelo. Check. A few days later I was at the Ostrava meet for the 600m. Even though David Rudisha pulled out after 200m, I finished a close second, securing an Irish national record for this distance.
Check. After that things began to go wrong.....
The Diamond League in New York did not go well. Having finished second a year ago I now had to be content with seventh. I did not feel good. In the European Team championships (Division 1) in Crete in late June, I was pipped to second, even though on paper I had the fastest time.
My next event was on home turf – the Cork City Sports. A niggling injury hampered me and after finishing a disappointing third I had to jump into the car, drive three hours back to Dublin (arriving at midnight) and be in the airport the following morning at 5am for a flight to the U23 European Championships in Tallinn, Estonia.
Alarm bells were ringing! But I didn’t want to listen. I managed to scrape into the final on low leg power output. I had nothing left and was drained after 400m. My body wasn’t right and I didn’t feel good. Time for reflection!
In the last four months I have become a Sky Sports Academy Scholar. It's already made a huge difference to my life and sport. The financial assistance it offers means that when problems arise in my athletics at least there is that reassurance I can afford to pay for professional rehabilitation.
It also relieves the pressure of worrying about day-to-day expenses. Recently, I teamed up with British sprint legend Darren Campbell as my Sky Academy mentor. I feel privileged to have such an exemplary mentor as a role model. I know his expertise, wisdom and insight will be invaluable to help overcome my current injury and loss of form.
June 15 will live for a long time in my memory. I was involved in a day of filming with Sky Sports in Dublin. The whole operation was precision personified. Everything was timed so that the crew had their job completed in time for their flight home to the UK that evening.
But there was little time to absorb the devastating news I received during filming that day of the death of two of my medical school classmates in the balcony accident in Berkeley, California. The accident claimed the lives of six students and leaving another seven in a critical condition. The magnitude of this tragedy caused me to stop in my tracks and think.
Were it not for my athletics I may well have been out there myself on a J1 Visa. Less than a year ago I had shared a class holiday with Lorcan Miller (RIP) and Eimear Walsh (RIP) in Croatia. They were two of the brightest, affable and most vivacious people I had ever met.
Events like this put injuries and poor performances into perspective. I returned from the European team championships on June 23 just in time to attend the funerals of both classmates. My own worries paled into insignificance.
Athletics is not life and death. In September our class will be missing two vibrant young people who never got a chance to fulfil their potential.
In the light of all that has happened so far this summer I realise that it is important to live life to the full. To see that glass half full rather than half empty. There is still half the summer left. There is still time to improve on my form and set my injury straight. I will try to embrace the advice of the writer Samuel Beckett.....
“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better.
WHAT'S NEXT FOR MARK ENGLISH.....
August 5: One year countdown to the Rio Olympics begins
August 8-9: Irish National Championships
August 22-30: World Championships, Beijing
