English and Lavin through to Olympic semi-finals, disappointment for Fay, Healy, and O'Sullivan

“It was good,” said Lavin. “It was nerve-wracking because the crowd were so loud. When there’s a French girl beside you, nothing can prepare you for that. I got out well and then just when I was out I kind of was like, ‘keep it clean here.’” 

The semi-finals take place on Friday afternoon, giving Lavin a rare rest day between rounds. 

“I get to go for a coffee or something with my parents today because you can’t stay in (race mode), it’s exhausting at some stage. We’re on energy conservation as well so tomorrow will be about recovery.” 

Lavin knows it will take something significantly faster than her Irish record to reach the Olympic final but that will be her goal.

 “I think you have to risk it for a biscuit,” she said.

 “Making that final, it’s not beyond me judging by the times this morning. I’ll have to be absolutely firing on all cylinders.” 

The semi-final will be part of the morning session on Friday, not that Lavin minds.

“Twenty-three years of training at 10am on a Sunday thanks to Noelle (Morrissey) means we are kind of used to getting up. Everyone is like, ‘oh, weekend!’ I’m like, ‘oh, 8am start every Sunday.’ Because that’s our big day for training so I think that’s why I like morning sessions. We’ll see, but ultimately I’m going to need the race of my life.” 

Lavin said it was “such an honour to carry the flag” at the opening ceremony but that “it feels like a million years ago now”, and she opted not to stay up last night to watch Kellie Harrington’s final.

 “Thank God I was asleep for that because I would’ve been in bits before I went to sleep, bawling crying – it would’ve been the worst prep ever,” she said. “It’s so special. Those seven medals are incredible and so well deserved. As well as being amazing athletes, they are such good people. 

It’s such an honour and a privilege to be on the same team as them.” 

Not long after Lavin blasted into the semi-finals, Mark English turned in an equally composed performance in the men’s 800m heats, the four-time European medallist showing all his class and experience to finish second in 1:45.15 behind France’s Gabriel Tual (1:45.13).

English sat in third for much of the race, saving ground and managing to stay out of trouble and when the gap opened on the final bend he surged, running side by side with Tual – a 1:41 man – in the closing metres and trying to overtake him, but the Frenchman pulled out enough to hold on.

“The plan worked out, I’m delighted to be in the semi-final,” said English. 

“The plan was to be in contention at 400 and 600 and I managed to do that, I’m delighted to come through that without having to navigate too much and getting a clean enough ride through.” 

English said he’d been training “really well” of late and feels in the best shape of his life. 

“The difficulty of my event is it’s quite competitive at the minute so it’s another challenge in the semi-final but I’m looking forward to it.” 

He admitted he’d felt the nerves of the big stage in the morning. 

“I was thinking that walking out: this is probably more nerve-wracking than 2016. Athletics is a sport where you can use your nerves to run better and thankfully it all worked out. It's my best finish ever at an Olympic Games so it's nice to get that. I felt really good and that bodes really well for the semi-final. The first lap was the strangest thing, as I felt so comfortable. I think we ran 50/51 and it felt really easy.” 

In the heats of the men’s 5000m, Brian Fay kept himself in contention ahead of the final lap – something he’d struggled to do at previous championships – but didn’t quite have enough gears to content with the heavy hitters to nab a top-eight qualification spot, the Dubliner hitting the line 13th in 13:55.35.

“Last year in Budapest I fell off the pace straight away, at Europeans I fell off the pace straight away, I was probably up against it to make the final but that was the goal,” he said. “I just wanted to be in the mix, forget about the last lap and when the pinch comes just stay on it. I did that, I put myself up there.

“I ran it as well as I could have but to call a spade a spade: I’m just not good enough at the minute to really have that strong finish. I don’t think I’m that far off it. I’ll get it right eventually. I just need to keep showing up and I’ll get it right eventually. By hell or high water, I’m gonna f**king make a world final, its going to f**king happen. I’ll be a force to be reckoned with. If I keep failing, if I keep falling on my arse so be it, but I’ll just keep showing up.” 

There was no joy for Sarah Healy and Sophie O’Sullivan in the 1500m repechages, both athletes finishing fourth in their respective races and coming up one spot shy of a spot in tomorrow’s semi-finals.

O’Sullivan clocked 4:03.73 and simply didn’t have the legs down the home straight to close on Spain’s Esther Guerrero, third in 4:03.15. 

“On one hand I’m happy to have two of my best runs of the whole year, but it’s obviously disappointing to be one spot out two days in a row,” she said. “But I’ll take a lot away from it and learn a lot.”

In the second repechage Healy ran a similar race, putting herself in the perfect position throughout but not having the gears to take one of the top three spots, clocking 4:07.60 for fourth.

“I just really didn’t feel like I have what I normally have,” she said. 

“I don’t really feel like myself the last few days, something is a bit off and I’m not sure what. I don’t know if it’s physical or mental. Obviously it’s a big moment and a big occasion but I’ve been feeling pretty calm. It’s just something in the race – for some reason everything just feels harder than normal.”