Mixed fortunes for Irish athletes on day 12 at the Olympics

Sarah Lavin and Mark English have qualified for their respective semi-finals at the Paris Olympics.

Lavin finished second in the 100 metre heats in a time of 12.73 seconds. The race was won by world champion Danielle Williams in 12.59.

Lavin can look forward to a rest day on Thursday with the semi-finals taking place on Friday afternoon.

Elsewhere, Mark English was equally impressive in the men’s 800 metre heats by finishing in second place.

The four-time European medallist posted a time of 1:45.15, just two hundredths of a second behind France’s Gabriel Tual.

The Donegal man races in the semi-final which takes place on Friday morning.

Elsewhere, Brian Fay misses out on the men’s 5000 metre final; Fay finished 13^th in the heat in 13:55.35.

And there was no joy for Sarah Healy and Sophie O’Sullivan with both athletes finishing fourth in the 1500 metre repechage.

O’Sullivan clocked 4:03.73 while Healy posted a time of 4:07.60. Both have missed out on the semi-finals as a result.