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Stuart Weir
Guest
Death of Ciara Mageean
“A beloved daughter, sister, wife, friend and inspiration to so many, she will be deeply missed” was the simple announcement of the death of Ciara Mageean, a week after her marriage to her long-term partner, Thomas Moan. The former European 1,500 meters champion and two-time Olympian, Ciara Mageean, died this week at age 34. “At 6:30 a.m. this morning (Sunday 1 November), Ciara lost her battle with cancer surrounded by her loved ones,” a statement on Mageean’s Instagram account said. A medical appointment had revealed stage four bowel cancer.
A jubilant Ciara Mageean, who won the Memorial Van Damme 1,500m in 3;56.63 PB/NR on 2 September 2022, photo by Diamond League AG
I watched her many times and was at the Olympic Stadium in Rome in 2024 when she won the European Championships 1500 meters gold. Read my account of that 1500-meter gold race for Ciara Mageean! – runblogrun
Ciara Mageean wins EAC W 1,500m in Roma 2024! Ireland rejoices! Photo by European Athletics
In 2022, I saw her take silver in both the European Championships and the Commonwealth Games. (Coming from Northern Ireland, she ran for Northern Ireland in the Commonwealth Games but for Ireland in all other international competitions). I saw her just miss a medal in the 2023 World Championships, coming fourth. I watched her in the Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo Olympics. She was ruled out of the Paris Games with an Achilles injury a day before her opening heat. I also saw her come third at the European Indoors in 2019 and fourth at the 2018 European Outdoors, and win a Diamond League…
Laura Muir, Ciara Mageean battle over 1,500m, photo by Dan Vernon Photography
Tributes included:
World Athletics President, Sebastian Coe, “It is with great sadness that we learned of Ciara’s passing this morning at such a young age. A European champion and inspiration to many, it is a sad day for our sport – her loss will be felt across the athletics commun ty. On behalf of everyone at World Athletics and the wider athletics family, I send our sincere condolences to Ciara’s family and loved ones.”
A statement from Athletics Ireland read: “Ciara was a much-loved and inspirational figure who touched the lives of so m ny. Her courage, warmth and spirit will leave a lasting legacy”.
The medalists of EA 2024 Roma, Georgia Hunter Bell, silver, Ciara Mageean, gold, Agathe Guilllemot, France, photo by European Athletics
She gave me an interview in 2023 and talked for a full 40 minutes. It was a really engaging conversation. One quote from that conversation sums up the mentality of the elite runner:
“It takes an immense amount of hard work and an immense amount of talent,t but the result is out of our control in many ways, and on the day you can have an amazing race and somebody else who was one of the favorites could have a bit of a worse day, and like that’s life and that’s sport. And I think that’s the beauty of it as well. I quite like that about the middle-distance events. Like you can have tactics that come into play much more than, say, some of the sprint events, and well, at least in my ignorance of sprint events, I would say so. But with that true competitiveness of the race and how it might pan out and inner belief anything can happen.”
I asked her too about the challenge of always finishing behind Faith Kipyegon. It must be frustrating, I suggested, – but she would not have it!
Faith Kipyegon, Budapest 2023, photo by World Athletics
“I feel really lucky to race against all the girls that I race against. It’s an absolutely fantastic field of athletes. The Women’s 1500 is being brought into a whole new realm of times and paces, and I do believe that’s hugely thanks to Faith and what she’s doing up at the front. She’s bringing all the rest of us with her and raising the bar of what we expect of ourselves and what you need to do whenever you’re coming to major champs, and as I’ve said before, I’m like sometimes like, oh, it’s tough being in a generation of women’s 1500 meters being just as spectacular as it is because the times that I’m running for, for example, would have won major medals in the past.
“I think of athletes; I really look up to Jenny Simpson, who medalled at Major Champs with a really good, astute tactical mindset, when she may not have been the fastest athlete in the race, and she was able to come out of championships with major medals.
Laura Muir, Ciara Mageean battle over 1,500m, photo by Dan Vernon Photography
Now I wonder if those days are gone, because now we have athletes who can front-run the low 3:50s or sub 3:50 if that is required. And so it is tough, but I think it’s a huge honor. It’s an honor to be able to get out there and race against an athlete who I quite likely think will be going down as the greatest of all time, and to be able to be on the track the same day that you see world records fall like th t. That truly is an honor, and to be able to compete against Faith Kipyegon, for she is an amazing woman, a fantastic athlete a, and a fantastic person. You’ll cool down after running major champs with her, and she’s chatting away to you, and she’ll say, ‘Oh, fantastic, you ran a national record,’ and I’m looking, wondering, like, at what point did you think to look at my name on the board?
“Faith is just such a genuine person, so I feel very fortunate to be out there racing again t. I think it says a lot that all of our field, all the women’s 115- 0, and I think that’s the beauty of sport, and I’ve kind of spoken to other people about it. They’re like, oh, you can’t be friends with the people you compete against, but I beg to differ because we’re all fierce competitors when we toe the line. Still, we have the utmost respect for one another, and nobody can quite understand the journey that each of us is on like the other girls that we’re shoulder to shoulder on that li e. So, yeah, I think it’s a huge honour to race against Faith”.
Ciara documented her career, and the battle with cancer, in her book, published earlier this year. Read my review
My Greatest Race, by Ciara Mageean – runblogrun
My Greatest Race, by Ciara Mageean