Coscoran in good shape for St Valentine's Day test

Star of the Sea athlete Andrew Coscoran will be in action tomorrow (Sunday) in a high-profile and competitive indoor 1,500m in France.

The Irish indoor 1,500m champion last Tuesday night recorded a personal best of 3:37.20 in the men's 1,500m final at the World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meet in France and he will be in action again on St Valentine's Day.

On Tuesday night Coscoran finished fifth in a competitive field, with a time that makes him the fifth-fastest Irish indoor runner over that distance, behind Marcus O’Sullivan, Eamonn Coghlan, Ciarán Ó Lionáird and Mark Carroll.

That race saw Jakob Ingebrigsten smash the European indoor record in a time of 3:31.80 - five seconds ahead of runner-up Marcin Lewandowski - the second to fifth-placed athletes finished in a bunch.

Next up for Coscoran is Sunday's outing at the 5th edition of the Meeting Indoor de l'Eure (Meeting Élite de l'Eure in Val de Reuil) which will take place this at the Jesse Owens room.

The pre-meeting will start at 2:45 pm and the international meeting at 4:10 pm - competition will take place behind closed doors.

The Meeting de l’Eure will be streamed live on the European Athletics Facebook page.

Star of the Sea AC chairman Brendan Meade is keeping a close eye on Coscoran and was encouraged by last Tuesday night's performance when the Meath athlete of the year dug in and produced a good solid performance.

Assessing the opposition for tomorrow's race, Meade told the Meath Chronicle:

"Andrew looks to be the leading man in it, but Paul Robinson (St Coca’s AC Kilcock) would also be fancied," he said.

"Brian Fay (Raheny Shramrock) is pacing it, the three of them would train together.

"The Ethiopians have no times against their names so they could be dark horses," he added.

(See race line up below)

Last month Athletics Ireland cancelled the National Indoor Championships which were scheduled to take place at the Sport Ireland National Indoor Arena on Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st February, but now on those dates Athletics Ireland will host an Indoor Micro Meet for invited high performance athletes at the National Indoor Arena and it is anticipated that Coscoran will be included in that group.

Last year (Sunday 1st March) Coscoran won the All-Ireland Indoor 1,500m title and set a new championship record of 3.41 in the process.

Coscoran set the new record ahead of Brian Fay (Raheny Shamrock) and eclipsed James Nolan's record of 3.44 that was set in 2006.

ÉLITE de l'EURE 1,500m LINE UP

Andrew Coscoran (IRL)

Brian Fay (IRL)

Paul Robinson (IRL)

Khaled Benmadhi (ALG)

Eliot Giles (GBR)

Kumari Taki (KEN)

Boaz Kiprugut (KEN)

Azzeddine Habz (FRA)

Baptiste Mischler (FRA)

Julian Ranc (FRA)

Charles Philibert Thiboutot (CAN)

Mohamed Katir (ESP)

Lamecha Girma (ETH)

Getnet Wale (ETH)