European Athletics Championships 2018 - Irish Day 4 Review

Historic Bronze for Barr

European Championships

Berlin

Thursday August 9th 2018

Thomas Barr has captured Ireland's first ever sprint medal in the 87 years of teh European Championships, with a Bronze medal in teh 400m Hurdles Final. After crossing the line, Barr, running in lane 8 - and in everyone else's cross-hairs - glanced to his left and immediately threw his arms in the air in triumph.

Athletics Ireland Release (9pm) - Feidhlim Kelly

Brilliant Barr wins Bronze

Thomas Barr (Ferrybank) created history by winning a brilliant Bronze medal in the 400m hurdles in 48.31 seconds at the European Athletics Championships in Berlin tonight, Thursday August 8th.

Barr became the first Irish male sprinter to win an outdoor European medal in the 84 year history of the event.

It was a truly world class race, with favourite Karsten Warholm, of Norway, setting a national record of 47.64, as did Turkey’s Yasmani Copello, who ran 47.81.

“It was really reminiscent of Rio with all the Irish flags and fans out there. It all came together, and I was raring to go from the afternoon to get out there,” said Barr afterwards.

“I really wanted that hardware, and to join Ciara (Mageean) and Mark (English) with medals, along with the greats like Sonia (O’Sullivan) and Derval (O’Rourke). I’m just so happy it came together, and I’m really thankful to all my team.”

It made Thomas Barr the tenth Irish athlete to win a medal at the European Championships.

Leon Reid (Menapians) was a little disappointed with 7th in the 200m final, with 20.37, but, like the 400m hurdles final, it was arguably the highest quality in the history of the championship. It was won by Turkey’s Ramil Guliyev, in a championship record of 19.76.

“Disappointing with the result because we always come here to win or be on the mix,” said Reid afterwards. I hit that bend hard, but they must have just piggy backed on me, because they came around on me.

“If I want to be up there with those guys, I need to be able to hit that straight coming off the bend. It’s something I’m going to have to work on. It’s not a bad debut finishing 7th in a European final. I want to push on now. It was great to have friends and family over, and finally run for Ireland.”

Friday will be a busy morning of action with Phil Healy (Bandon) in the heats of the 200m at 10:25, Ciara Mageean (UCD) in the heats of the 1500m, Kerry O’Flaherty (Newcastle) and Michelle Finn (Leevale) in the heats of the 3,000m steeplechase at 11:25, along with the heats of the men’s and women’s 4x400m relays at 12:05 and 12:40. Thomas Barr has a quick turnaround competing in the 4x400m relay.

Athletics Ireland Release (1pm) - Feidhlim Kelly

No joy for English and Curran

Mark English (UCD) and Zak Curran (DSD) both found the going tough in their respective heats of the men's 800m, and were unable to advance to the semi-finals, at the European Athletics Championships in Berlin this morning, Thursday August 9th.

Mark English was first up, in heat 1 of the 800m, where he finished 8th, in a season’s best of 1:48.98. There was the customary bumping and barging in international 800m racing, but English had no excuses; “It just didn’t click out there for me today and I couldn’t get into a rhythm. I want to get back in an Irish singlet and get back into finals,” English said afterwards.

Zak Curran (DSD) found his first major outdoor championships to be a challenging experience, finishing 7th in heat 3 in 1:49.31.

“I’m disappointed with that,” Curran said afterwards. “I feel I belong, and I know I’m better than that. I’m motivated to come back better from this experience.

Thomas Barr (Ferrybank) and Leon Reid (Menapians) compete in respective 400m hurdles and 200m finals tonight. Barr competes at 19:15 with Reid on at 20:05 (Irish time).

Athlete interviews are available on Athletics Ireland social media channels, and also on RTE, where there is extensive coverage of the championships.

Live timetable, results and live stream are on European Athletics

A history of the Irish at the European Athletics Championships

Irish European Championships Timetable

European Championships Preview and Irish Athletes Timetable 2018

Irish Athletes Schedule - Day 5 - Friday August 10th

Friday	August 10th	- AM	Irish Time	Venue Time	Athlete	Club	Event
			10:25	11:25	Phil Healy	Bandon	200m Heats
			11:00	12:00	Ciara Mageean	UCD	1500m Heats
			11:25	12:25	Kerry O'Flaherty	Newcastle	3000m s/chase Heats
			11:25	12:25	Michelle Finn	Leevale	3000m s/chase Heats
			12:50	13:05	Men's 4 x 400m Relay Heats
			12:40	13:40	Women's 4 x 400m Relay Heats

Friday	August 10th	- PM	Irish Time	Venue Time	Athlete	Club	Event
			18:10	19:10	Ben Reynolds	North Down	110m hurdles Semi-final
			18:48	19:48	Phil Healy	Bandon	200m Semi-final
			20:05	21:05	Chris O'Donnell	North Sligo	400m Final
			20:35	21:35	Ben Reynolds	North Down	110m hurdles Final