Mark Howard’s European Indoor Championships campaign has proved a brief affair after the Irishman finished seventh in his 60 metres heat.
Running in the first heat, Howard clocked 6.83 seconds, 0.2 of a second behind winner Jason Gardener (6.61) of Britain. Gardener's teammate Mark Lewis-Francis went quickest in the heats with a time of 6.57 seconds.
Meanwhile, James Nolan, who won silver in Ghent two years ago, goes in the final of the 1500 metres later this evening after cruising through his semi-final yesterday.
Peter Coghlan is also in action later today after scraping through, as fastest loser, to the semi-finals of the 60 metres hurdles.
60m 1st round
Heat 1: 1 Jason Gardener (Gbr) 6.61, 2 John Ertzgaard (Nor) 6.70, 3 B Bongelo (Bel) 6.72, 4 Matic Sustersic (Slo) 6.74, 5 A Pavlakakis (Gre) 6.76, 6 Mark Howard ( Irl) 6.83, 7 M Achkovics (Aut) 6.91