A frustrated Ciara Mageean has revealed a torn calf muscle is behind her below-par performance in the first round of the 1500m at the Tokyo Olympics yesterday, the two-time European medallist trailing home 11th in 4:07.29 which ended her Games.

The injury occurred just eight days before her opening race while at the Irish holding camp in Fukuroi, an issue Mageean said normally requires at least a two-week rest.

She didn’t run a step for the following five days, then did some light running over the weekend before her opening round.

“I’m really disappointed,” she said.

“I’ve proven I’m a world-class 1500m runner and that wasn’t to the level I know I am.”

It has been a turbulent year to date. In January, her former coach Jerry Kiernan passed away, and Mageean admitted yesterday it had hit her “pretty hard”.

In April, her body started to fail her, a tear in her glute costing her weeks of training though she had turned things around before coming to Tokyo, clocking 4:02.48 in Monaco last month.

“I took (the injury) in my stride at the start but as the week went on I got a little anxious,” she says. “It’s not ideal, you don’t want that going into an Olympic Games.”

For Sarah Healy, there was a similar level of frustration, even if the 20-year-old Dubliner couldn’t point to any similar physical issues after coming home 11th in her heat in 4:09.78. What she did point to was a lack of tactical commitment, and an awareness that perhaps the big stage had played its part.

“I usually get nervous but never out of control but I think today, I let it get the best of me,” she said.

Elsewhere, Phil Healy bowed out of the 200m after finishing fifth in 23.21.