"Wonderful to see such sportsmanship between these two athletes."
"My time will come," Ciara Mageean confidently declared, not long after
her fantastic second place finish in the European Championships.
The Portaferry native shot out as the pace-setter in the Women's 1500-metre final, in Munich, and had enough left in the tank to push Olympic silver medallist Laura Muir to the brink, during a gripping final lap.
Mageean is embracing a new lease of running life as a frontrunner and a competitor that backs herself to set the tempo and still finish strong. It was enough for a silver medal finish, but the 30-year-old feels she is only getting started.
"I knew that it was going to be tough," Mageean told RTE. "I had Laura and Sofia (Ennaoui) in my mind. In my warm-up, I even visualised Laura going from there and when it happened, I just told myself to go with her, I told myself to be her shadow...
"I tried my best to stick to her, but Laura's got the better of me on a good few occasions now. My time will come. This is what it's all about. I know that I'm there, and I'll keep trying for that gold."
For someone that has been thwarted by Scottish star Laura Muir, the gesture Mageean made towards her after the race is up there as one of the most heartening sporting moments of 2022.
"Ciara Mageean, what a brave move!"
Laura Muir, fresh from her Commonwealth Games gold medal win, found herself near the back of the field for the first couple of laps in the 1500m final.
She moved into position for an attack on her third lap and dropped the hammer when that final bell was rung. The race commentators noted that final lap burst was when Muir 'ripped the heart out of the field' but credited Ciara Mageean for sticking with the Scot and pushing her all the way.
As the finalists dropped to the track, after getting over the finish line, Mageean went straight for Muir and gave her a congratulatory pat on the back.
She then lay down on the track beside the woman that pipped her to a gold medal and grabbed her hand. There the women lay as they breathlessly relived a pulsating race. It was such a lovely sporting moment.
The Irishwoman and the Scot have been dicing against each other for the guts of a decade, and the mutual respect was clear for all to see.
Ciara Mageean may have lost out on Commonwealth and European gold to Laura Muir in the space of a few weeks, but her two silvers show an athlete that is in the track form of her life, and ready to take on the world's best up to, and at, the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
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