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The Letterkenny UCD AC athlete didn’t finish the 800m at CIT on Wednesday night, withdrawing with 200m to go as the race was well beyond him, but this time around rocketed from down the field to earn a sensational win on athletics’ biggest circuit.

The Donegal star was lying 8th and way down at the final bend as Alfred Kipketer of Kenya and Britain’s Elliot Giles were fighting it out for the win.

But they never spotted the man in lane four.

With absolute determination, three-times European Championship medallist English pushed through on the outside to score a major victory on the world tour, albeit in a race not actually counting towards the Diamond League standings.

English won in a season’s best time of 1:45.94 seconds – just 0.14 seconds outside the IAAF qualifying time for next month’s Worlds in Doha – a full second inside his previous best mark of the campaign.

Kipketer finished second in 1:46.10, with Giles third in 1:46.27, in a contest where unusually there were a mammoth twelve starters.

English paid tribute to coach Steve Magness and physio Chris Bramah afterwards, quipping on social media: “A right funny old sport, eh? Nice to take the big win at the Birmingham Diamond League today. Big step in the right direction.”

A right old funny sport, eh? Nice to take the win at the Birmingham DL today. Big step in the right direction. Thanks to @stevemagness and @chrisbramah for the work to get me in shape. And to @RayPFlynn for getting me the spot! And my sponsors Hegarty’s Letterkenny and @adidas pic.twitter.com/UlqIqhbUEF

— Mark English (@markenglish_) August 18, 2019

Ahead of the Alexander Stadium meeting, English was lying 1.16 seconds off the world standard, and there were major concerns over his form following his dropping-out in front of a significant television audience at the prestige Cork City Sports – but turned it on for the cameras again yesterday.

Will Downing has been speaking to English today following that sensational result.

Q: Did you genuinely think you could still win when you were lying in eighth position at the final bend?

Mark English: I knew it would be close, but I felt like I had enough energy left to win it.

Q: You had felt good enough for a season's best going into the race?

English: I definitely felt good enough for a season’s best and maybe even a personal best. However, the weather conditions didn’t allow for a PB in the end. I felt really good in my warm-up doing strides. I was getting super knee lift, which is something I didn’t have this season.

Q: What had gone wrong in Cork on Wednesday night? And how was that compensated for between Cork and Birmingham?

English: I think it was a combination of travel fatigue and biomechanical deficiencies. The travel thing was sorted just through easier workouts. I asked a physio in the UK to look over videos of my races this season and I worked hard to correct a few things with my running form. So I have to thank him a lot for that turnaround.

Q: Lying 0.14 outside the qualifying standard, do you feel on track for Doha?

English: I feel like I’m ready for Doha. And to really fight for a place in that final. It will be extremely tough, no doubt about it. There are a lot of guys in the world who have run quicker this season and it will take a bit of luck to get a semi-final that sets it up. However, I have the confidence and experience to face up to them now.

Q: What is next on the schedule in the bid to qualify?

English: I will race at the Morton Games on Wednesday where I hope to secure automatic qualification for the World Championships in Doha.

Elsewhere in Birmingham, Thomas Barr finished fifth in the 400m hurdles to definitively qualify for the Diamond League Finals at the end of the season.

The Ferrybank AC athlete recorded 50.16 seconds as Turkey’s 2016 European champion and Olympic bronze-medallist Yasmani Copello took the win in 49.08 ahead of Brazil’s Alison Santos (49.20) and David Kendziera of the United States in third (49.29).

Barr is currently top of the qualifying table or the 400 hurdles, and will compete in the Diamond League Final of the 400 hurdles at the Weltklasse in Zurich on August 29th.

Sarah Healy was one of seven athletes to set a new lifetime best in the women’s mile.

European U20 1500m silver-medallist last month in Sweden, and double European U18 champion over 1500m and 3000m from last summer, Healy clocked 4:40.72 as Germany’s Konstanze Klosterhalfen won in a new German record 4:21.11, also a meeting record.