Ciara Mageean says she is “absolutely heartbroken” after it was announced on Monday night that she has been forced to withdraw from the Olympic women’s 1,500m heats on Tuesday morning through injury.
The European champion has been suffering from an Achilles tendon injury which has repeatedly upset her final preparations in recent weeks.
A statement on the matter was released by Team Ireland on Monday evening: “In her final weeks of preparation for these Paris Olympic Games, Ciara has been dealing with painful chronic Achilles issues.
“Despite every effort made by Ciara and the Team Ireland medical team, the European champion will unfortunately be unable to toe the line tomorrow morning.”
Mageean added: “I’m absolutely heartbroken not to be able to compete in my third Olympic Games. I gave it everything to make it possible to be on the start line, but time was against me. I want to thank everyone for all their support.”
The 32-year-old was similarly injured a week before competing in Tokyo, a calf injury upsetting her preparations there and she was unable to progress from the heats.
The ever-resilient Co Down athlete bounced right back in 2022 when winning 1,500m silver at the European Championships and Commonwealth Games, before winning a magnificent gold in Rome in June, completing the full set of European medals. It was only Ireland’s second ever individual gold medal winner after Sonia O’Sullivan.
Mageean also took back the Irish 800m record this year, running 1:58.51, after improving her own Irish 1,500m record to 3:55.87 last summer. Mageean also finished fourth at last year’s World Championships in Budapest.
Despite the ambition of possibly putting herself in the medal mix once again in Paris, those hopes are now dashed.
Ireland still has two other women in the 1,500m heats on Tuesday morning (9.05 Irish time), with 22-year-old Sophie O’Sullivan going in the first heat, making her Olympic debut alongside the likes of Britain’s Laura Muir. Sarah Healy will also make her Olympic debut in the second heat, drawn against defending champion Faith Kipyegon.
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