Irish athlete speaks to Off The Ball after claiming bronze at the European Indoors

On Sunday, Mark English claimed a bronze medal at the European Indoor Championships.

The Donegal athlete finished in a time of 1:47.39 in an 800m final he almost missed out on.

He joined Off The Ball on Tuesday as the medal success sinks in.

"I suppose going into the final, I probably was a favourite to get a medal. So I was just really, really happy," he said.

"If he got in ahead of me, it was game over"

"I wanted to get on the shoulder of the leader, so I'd be in a position to strike when the time came.

"I'd a feeling that Andreas Bube from Denmark would make a move with about 400 metres to go.

"And he did. I didn't expect [Jamie] Webb to make a move when he did. But I just had to track him then and De Arriba passed everyone with 200 metres left.

"So there was no catching him but I was really happy with my race. I managed to hang on nicely."

It is a bronze medal for Mark English in the 800 metres at the European Indoor Championships #RTEsport pic.twitter.com/soHvuBGwSp

— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) March 3, 2019

He added that heading into the final bend, he was confident he could beat Bube if he could get ahead at that point.

"But if he got in ahead of me, that was game over. So I was really happy that I was able to hold him off," said English.

"When the last lap came around, I was pretty nervous that I would hang on. Because I knew I was out of gears and I had nothing left to give. It was just a matter of keeping everyone off on the straight until we got to the bend. I knew they'd have to run that bit extra then so I was lucky to hold on in the end. I think sometimes you just get that luck."

You can watch the full interview above on YouTube.