Mark English gets boost for Rio as he sets 500m Irish record

Mark English gave his Olympic preparations a timely boost with victory over 500m at the Galan Indoor meeting Sweden on Wednesday night, clocking an Irish record of 1:00.93.

Already qualified over 800m for Rio, English stepped down to the rarely run distance and produced a perfect run, beating the experienced American Erik Sowinski into second place.

The meeting was marked by a world record over 1,000m of 2:14.20 by Ayanleh Souleiman from Djibouti. His time bettered the 2:14.96 set by Denmark's Wilson Kipketer in 2000. English, who moves back up to 800m for Saturday's Glasgow Indoor International, has taken time of out his medical studies at UCD to focus solely on the Olympics.

Among the highlights of a quality Athlone International meeting last night was Roseanne Galligan's third place over 1,500, her time of 4:11.07 a personal best and inside the qualifying mark for next month's World Indoor championships in Oregon. Victory on the night went to the Kenyan Nancy Chepkwemoi in an impressive 4:08.46.

Canada's Melissa Bishop, the reigning World Champion silver medallist, won the 800m with an Irish all-comers record of 2:00.59.