Ciara Mageean lowers her own Irish 800m record in Manchester

Ciara Mageean has bettered her own Irish record by 0.6 of a second, running 1.58.08 at the British Milers Club meet in Manchester.

This automatically qualifies the 32-year-old for the 800m event in the Paris Games, but it's unlikely she will take up the challenge, as her main event the 1500m, remains unfinished business.

The Portaferry woman was through 400m in a swift 57.5, closely following the newly installed pacemaking wave light technology at the Sport City venue.

Despite a fast opening lap she trailed British youngster Phoebe Gill, who hit the bell in 55.2 seconds, on the heels of pacemaker Seren Bundy-Davies.

With 200m remaining, Gill still maintained the lead. Mageean sat comfortably in third place behind Erin Wallace, before passing her on the bend.

The 1500m strength from Mageean shone through in the final stages.

With early leader Gill starting to falter in the final straight, she was being caught hand over fist by the Irish record holder.

The gap was too large, despite wobbly legs, Gill held on for the win in 1.58.08. Gill made headlines last weekend, running a European Under-18 record of 1.57.86 in the Belfast Irish Milers Meet.

Fellow Irish woman Sarah Healy placed 4th in a personal best time of 2.00.86. This moves the 23-year-old up to 8th position on the Irish all-time list.

This performance betters Mageean's record-breaking run in the same event last year, when she posted 1.59.27 behind Abbey Caldwell of Australia.

Mageean has certainly made her mark as her bid for Olympic glory gets underway.

The Irish record holder missed the indoor season after sustaining an injury while running the fastest Parkrun in the world.

After finishing fourth in last year's World Championships the Portaferry native will tentatively