Ciara Mageean absence dampens mood but green shoots for Sarah Healy and Sophie O'Sullivan in the 1500 heats

"I didn't grow up playing camogie to get boxed in."

Who could forget Ciara Mageean's joyous post-race interview with David Gillick after she clinched European Championships gold in the 1500m in Rome just a couple of months ago.

Beyond being eminently quotable, it was a moment that drew viewers right into the heart of a moment of accomplishment for an athlete who's had more than her share of ups and downs.

Unfortunately, the start of this week was one of the low-points.

On Monday, Mageean announced that she would be unable to take part in this year's Olympics, a "painful chronic Achilles issues" making it impossible for her to compete in the 1500m heats at the Stade de France on Tuesday morning.

While the PA announcer did call out her name ahead of the third and final heat, her absence was felt as the leading light of the Irish trio in the women's 1500, who would have been coming into these Games propelled by European success and an array of craft and know-how.

So it was left to Sophie O'Sullivan and Sarah Healy to fly the flag over the distance in the first event of the day in the stadium on Tuesday morning.

O'Sullivan, daughter of the legendary Sonia, was first to take to the track just after 10am local time and with only the top six qualifying directly for the semi-finals, seventh place and a personal best time of 4:00.23 was a marker for the future - especially considering she set the eighth fastest time of anyone from all three heats and her momentum had been impacted mid-race by a bout of jostling from Japan's Nozomi Tanaka.

Sophie O'Sullivan was happy to get a new personal best but "a little annoyed" to miss out on automatic qualification for the 1500m semi-finals by one place