IT was another busy day for Irish athletes at the European U23 Championships in Espoo, Finland yesterday.
While conditions were fine in the morning, a torrential rainstorm held up the evening session in Leppävaara Stadium by an hour and made life especially difficult for the field competitors.
One of these was Ireland’s Nicola Tuthill, who was unlucky not to get a medal in the hammer after occupying third place with a 66.43m mark after the opening two rounds.
The Bandon AC thrower slipped to fourth at the halfway point and had to settle for that position behind Finland’s Silja Kosonen, who threw a championship record of 73.71m with her opening effort.
Dubliner Jack Raftery finished seventh in the 400m final in 46.00s. The Donore Harrier could not be criticised after running a seasonal best of 46.20s in his Thursday morning heat before setting a personal best of 45.89s in the semi-final later that day.
The race was won in 45.13s by Norwegian one-lap sensation Havard Ingvaldsen and a place in the final was more than was expected of Raftery going into the competition.
Israel Olatunde went into the 100m final the slowest qualifier of the eight competitors and struggling to find the form that saw him last year set an Irish record of 10.17s.
And, it was an obviously disappointed Olatunde who finished a distant eighth in 10.44s as Welshman Jeremiah Azu flew to victory in 10.05s.
Two Irish athletes were involved in the only final decided during the morning session.
Kilkenny City Harrier Shay McEvoy and Candour Track Club’s Callum Morgan finished 10th and 14th respectively in the 5000m won by Britain’s Charlie Hicks in 13:35.07s after leading most of the race.
McEvoy was timed at 13:52:76s while Morgan crossed in line in 14:14.73s after fading in the later stages
“I went with the hot pace and wasn’t expecting them to go out that hard. I was expecting to be on the train no matter what and it was working until about a mile to go but I didn’t lose too many positions and it’s something to build on with two more cracks at these championships to come,” said the 20-year-old Belfast athlete.
Longford’s Cian McPhillips booked his place in Sunday’s 800m final after finishing fourth in his heat and gaining a non-automatic qualifying place with a 1.46.35s clocking.
Leevale AC’s James Ezeonu exited the 110m hurdles after taking fifth place in his heat. His 14:43s timing was not enough to progress as an non-automatic qualifier.
Ireland’s top-ranked women Sarah Healy and Sophie O’Sullivan enter the fray today with both lining up in the heats of the 1500m.
O’Sullivan goes in heat one, while Healy is included in the heat three. First four in the three heats advance to the final on Sunday.
