Athletics:Derval O'Rourke missed out on a 60m hurdles medal by one place at the European Indoor Athletics Championships in Paris on Friday afternoon.
The Leevale hurdler was drawn in lane eight for the final, after posting a time 7.98 seconds in the semis. She improved on that by two hundredths of a second, a season’s best, but was unable to keep pace with Carolina Nytra and Britain’s Tiffany Ofili who both ran 7.80, before a photo finish awarded the win to the German.
Denmark’s Christina Vukicevic was third, in a time of 7.83.
Darren McBreartyclaimed the second of the two fastest loser places for the 800m semi-final, with a fourth place finish in his heat, which was won by Poland's Marcin Lewandowski.
The 19-year-old Letterkenny athlete was quick out of the blocks passed 200m, 400m and 600m in the lead before giving way slightly to three of his rivals on the last lap, but his time of 1:49:74 was good enough to progress.
Marian Heffernanfinished fifth in her 400m heat with a time of 54.94 to come close to her personal best. Unfortunately, the Togher runner missed out on a fastest loser berth for the semi-final.
Brian Greganalso failed to advance from his 400m heat after crossing the line fourth in 47.63. From lane five, the young Tallaght athlete got off to a good start and was third at the bell but coming off the last bend he got a slight knock and lost a yard in the home straight.
He was clearly disappointed with his effort.
"I just don’t know what happened. I could hardly breathe out there. I’m absolutely shattered” said the 21-year-old. “I had to break my stride at 200 metres and after that I was fighting to make up ground but I just lost my stride and then I seemed to lose the head and there was none of that smoothness that has been a feature of my running in recent weeks.
“That is a time I could run in my sleep. I can’t explain it except perhaps the sinus problems I’ve experience since I came here might have something to do with it. But right now I’m down in the dumps and in shock at being eliminated like that.
“I just ran like an amateur. My legs felt heavy and it’s harder to take considering I ran a second faster in the Irish Championships in the Odyssey two weeks ago. Competing in a race like this so early in the morning is not good but it’s the same for everyone and that is not an excuse.”
e North Laois AC athlete Dan Mulharefailed to qualify from his 3,000m heats. Mulhare eventually finished sixth in a time of 8:04.57 with his effort hindered after a collision mid-race.
Nonetheless, he insisted he had "no excuses" for not making the final.
“I just need to get my 1,500m time down by several seconds if I hope to keep with these guys. They have 1,500m times several seconds faster than me and that pace is just a breeze for them.
“I did my bit to try and get a strong pace going but when it came to the last couple of laps that vital speed was not in my legs. But I intend to work harder and harder and it was just fantastic to get this type of experience out here.