Athletics:Irish athletes had a mixed bag of performances on the opening day of the European Under-23 Championships in the Czech Republic today.
Jessie Barr, the 22 year old Waterford athlete from Ferrybank AC, showed her real potential once again in Ostrava when she qualified for the final of the 400 metres hurdles on Saturday after finishing second in her heat in 58.01.
Barr, who broke the Irish U23 record with a time of 57.21 at the European Team Championships in Izmir last month, has been drawn in lane eight for the final, and will up against a quality field for the medals.
In the men’s 800m heats, Tallaght AC’s Anthony Lieghio ran a timely personal best time of 1.48.06 to finish third and qualify automatically for tomorrow’s final.
Letterkenny’s Darren McBrearty missed out after he was caught up in slow tactical affair in his heat, finishing in a disappointing fifth position, in a time of 1.49.34.
Dooneen AC’s Timmy Crowe posted the fastest time of his life in the 400m hurdles to come second in his heat in 51.24 and qualify for the semi-finals. In addition, the relatively inexperienced Paul Byrne (St Abban’s AC) also advanced to the semi-final after clocking 51.90, equalling his best ever time.
The final Irish athlete in action today was Clonliffe’s Brian Gregan in the heats of the men’s 400m and the big man from Tallaght put in an excellent performance to finish second in his heat, in season’s best time of 46.32 seconds, to qualify automatically for Saturday’s final.
Former European Junior 100m finalist Niamh Whelan was unfortunately eliminated in her heat of the women’s 100 metres by finishing sixth in 11.89 seconds.
The University of Ulster’s Adam McMullen also failed to progress in the men’s Long Jump, with his effort of 7.27 metres placing him eighth in his qualification group.