Island athlete David Mullarkey continued his preparations for next month’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow with an impressive run in California at the weekend.

Competing in the 3,000m event at the Los Angeles Grand Prix, the Manxman was leading Olympic gold medallist Cole Hocker going into the final lap before eventually finishing fourth behind South African Tshepo Tshite, Hocker and Mexican Eduardo Herrera.

Talking about the run, athletics correspondent David Griffiths added: ‘If anyone had any doubts about the level that David Mullarkey is operating at, just look at the company he was keeping in this weekend's Los Angeles Grand Prix, where he was racing over a distance of 3,000 metres.

‘To put this performance into context, the American Cole Hocker is the reigning Olympic 1,500m and World 5,000m champion, and David had the confidence to take him on and give him a real fright.

‘It really is incredibly exciting to think that David will be representing the Isle of Man at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in only a few weeks' time.’

It will be Mullarkey’s second Commonwealth Games, having made his debut in Birmingham in 2022. There he finished 12th in the 5,000 final in what was then a new Manx record of 13 minutes 43.92 seconds.

The 23rd edition of the event is set to take place between Thursday, July 23 to Sunday, August 2 with the athletics competition taking place between July 27 and August 1 at the Scotstoun Sports Campus.