![\"Mark](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Sports3396177.jpg\")
<\/p>\nAkinola, who had clocked 6.59 to advance from his heat earlier in the day, fell short of the Irish record he set earlier this year of 6.54.<\/p>\n
The semi-final was won by USA\u2019s Jordan Anthony in 6.43, with Britain\u2019s Jeremiah Azu taking the second automatic qualifying spot in 6.45.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been working on the start, building into the run, but I wasn\u2019t as sharp getting out,\u201d said Akinola. \u201cI was thinking too much during the hold when I was on my marks, it caught me by surprise.\u201d<\/p>\n
Akinola said his frustration was due to knowing what he can do when he gets it right and added that the performance fell well short of that.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything comes into play, the pressure, your mentality, and it\u2019s something I need to work on, not succumbing to the cameras,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a good season, I ran some really good races on the circuit, but championships are different. I thought I executed the plan but it didn\u2019t work out how I wanted.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy PB would have made the final and I know I can run quicker than that, I just need to see what happened and hope it never happens again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Earlier in the day, Mark English produced a controlled, commanding performance to take victory in his 800m heat in 1:46.62.<\/p>\n
He needed a top-two finish to advance automatically and the 33-year-old Donegal athlete eased to the front approaching the final lap, with Poland\u2019s Filip Ostrowski taking second in 1:46.61. He\u2019ll be back in action in the semi-finals on Saturday at 12.08pm Irish time.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Mark English of Ireland, centre, competing in the men’s 800m heats during day one of the World Athletics Indoor Championships at Kujawsko-Pomorska Arena in Torun, Poland. Photo by Sam Barnes\/Sportsfile<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s so many good athletes and everyone probably feels they\u2019ve a chance of making it, of winning it,\u201d said English, who\u2019s targeting his first global final. \u201cI\u2019m taking it one round at a time. I came in having had a great winter behind me. I put the head down after Tokyo last year and wanted to do my form justice.\u201d<\/p>\n
His 800m semi-final sees him drawn alongside Australia\u2019s Peter Bol, who also trains under coach Justin Rinaldi. Bol is the only athlete in the field to have gone quicker than English this year, though his 1:43.89 was run outdoors. If English is to make his first global final, which will require a top-two finish, this is as good a chance as he\u2019ll get.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, there were mixed fortunes for Ireland\u2019s two athletes in the women\u2019s 800m, Maeve O\u2019Neill and Emma Moore. O\u2019Neill came home third in her heat in 2:03.20 but a disqualification of US rival Valery Tobias for a lane infringement saw her soon upgraded to second and into the semi-final.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m over the moon,\u201d she said. \u201cThat was the aim \u2013 to get in the semi-finals. I\u2019m really excited and I\u2019ll try calm the nerves now and get ready as best I can.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Maeve](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/802fdc55-7d80-48b5-9179-70f34c98bfb3.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Maeve O’Neill of Ireland, left, competing in the women’s 800m heats during day one of the World Athletics Indoor Championships at Kujawsko-Pomorska Arena in Torun, Poland. Photo by Sam Barnes\/Sportsfile<\/p>\n
Moore came home fifth in her heat in 2:02.00, a race won by Italy\u2019s Eloisa Coiro in 1:59.87. \u201cI\u2019d be lying if I said I wasn\u2019t disappointed, I came here to make a semi-final,\u201d said Moore. \u201cI tried to make a few moves that cost me in the end. I wanted a better position and I couldn\u2019t get it but that\u2019s experience, which I don\u2019t have a lot of. I didn\u2019t really execute the race plan, but I stood on the line and felt like I belonged there. Moving forward, I won\u2019t be happy with just making the heats of a World Champs.\u201d<\/p>\n
James Gormley was well off the pace in his heat of the 1500m, coming home 10th in 3:50.71, seven seconds behind race winner Samuel Pihlstrom of Sweden.<\/p>\n
On Saturday, Andrew Coscoran and Nick Griggs will carry Ireland\u2019s hopes in a loaded men\u2019s 3000m final on Saturday evening, a race featuring the full 1500m podium from the Paris Olympics. \u201cI don\u2019t see why I can\u2019t rub shoulders with them,\u201d said Griggs. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be interesting to go out there and really put myself in the mix, make a statement, and see if I am as good as I think I am at the minute, as good as I think I can be.\u201d<\/p>\n
World Indoor Championships: Live, Virgin Media Two, 8.55am\/5.15pm; Virgin Media Three, 7.25pm<\/p>\n
Irish in action, Saturday (all times Irish)<\/p>\n
Ciara Neville, Lauren Roy: women\u2019s 60m heats,10:05am<\/p>\n
Maeve O\u2019Neill: women\u2019s 800m semi-final, 11.22am<\/p>\n
Mark English: men\u2019s 800m semi-final, 12.08pm<\/p>\n
Andrew Coscoran, Nick Griggs: men\u2019s 3000m final, 6.22pm<\/p>\n
*Ciara Neville, Lauren Roy: women\u2019s 60m semi-finals, 7.14pm<\/p>\n
*Ciara Neville, Lauren Roy: women\u2019s 60m final, 8.20pm<\/p>\n
*Pending qualification<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Akinola, who had clocked 6.59 to advance from his heat earlier in the day, fell short of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":357274,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[16452,42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-357273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-cathal-dennehy","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=357273"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357273\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/357274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=357273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=357273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=357273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}