Nearing 30, bronze-winning English has plenty left in the tank

When Mark English won his first European outdoor bronze in Zurich eight years ago, he was quoted afterwards as describing the race as a "blur".

Now, at 29, he claimed his second in a cooler, rather more methodical fashion.

Whereas he was an insurgent figure in 2014, surprising both himself and the field to reach the podium, this time around he was widely fancied to be among the likely medalists.

If you had offered him a bronze in advance of the race, English would not have snapped your hand off for it. But by the time he arrived at the finish line, he was delighted to take his spot on the podium, knowing he'd run the best race he could in the circumstances.

"Going into the race, if you had asked the question, would I have been happy with the bronze, I might have said 'not really' because I did feel there was a chance I could get the win," English told RTÉ Sport on Wednesday.

"But when I came up to the 800m mark, I was absolutely delighted to get the bronze because I knew there was nothing more I could have done in the race to get the gold. It was just a relief to get the bronze medal at that point."

Highly analytical, English had pegged himself as third favourite going into the final. He carefully plotted how could he position himself for a tilt at a medal - or even a win. For the most part, the race panned almost exactly as he had planned.

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"I felt the two favourites were probably Jake Wightman and Mariano Garcia. And I was probably the third favourite. That's just how I felt.