Thomas Barr, a 31-year-old athlete from Waterford, is unsure about the longevity of his running career. Nevertheless, he demonstrated robust stamina and determination by securing victory in his 400-metre hurdle heat during the morning session of the European Championships in Rome on Sunday. Despite the exertion from winning the European 4×400 mixed relay gold the previous afternoon, Barr displayed impressive energy, skillfully finishing the final 50 metres and clinching first place. His ace performance led to a season-best time of 49.31 seconds, ranking him the quickest amongst all the 12 qualifying athletes.
Sunday morning was particularly successful for the Irish team, witnessing Mark Smyth progress in the 200m heat opening and Nicola Tuthill, a promising athlete, advance to the women’s hammer final. Barr, now set for Monday’s semi-final, showed no sign of fatigue post his relay win on Friday and carries a hopeful anticipation for a final position. This comes six years after securing a bronze in the Berlin European Championship in 2018.
On a less fortunate note, Kelly McGrory, Barr’s partner and another 400m hurdler, could not make it past the first round despite a personal best time of 57.10.
On the other hand, Smyth had a commendable performance in the men’s 200m race, earning his season-best time of 20.93 and securing his position in Sunday evening’s semi-final. The day also saw Tuthill pleasantly content with securing her position in Monday’s hammer final after a series of excellent throws. She comfortably landed within the top 12 qualifying positions with her best throw of the day being 69.85m, following her surpassing the 70m barrier the month before.
On a Sunday morning amidst the historical lanes of Rome, the half-marathons for men and women were held. Shona Heaslip put up an impressive season’s best performance of 1:12:19 (34th) while Emily Haggard-Kearney managed to clock 1:17:04 (64th) in the women’s round. Meanwhile, Hiko Tonosa completed his men’s run in 1:05:42, finishing 43rd.
Turn similar heads were Yemaneberhan Crippa and Pietro Riva who bagged the gold and silver respectively in the men’s competition with Crippa setting a fresh championship record of 1:01:03. The women’s half-marathon championship record was also set by Norway’s Karoline Bjerkeli Grovdal with a time of 1:08:09, gaining her long-awaited European gold, a feat she started pursuing 14 years earlier.
Grovdal’s history includes a ninth-place finish in the 5,000m race at Barcelona 2010, accompanied by two bronze medals, first in the 10,000m at Amsterdam 2016 and then in the 3,000m steeplechase at Berlin 2018.
For Sunday’s evening session, the triple threat of Rhasidat Adeleke, Sharlene Mawdsley, and Sophie Becker aims to grab a spot in Monday’s women’s 400m medal showdown (from 7.05pm Irish time). Christopher O’Donnell will also be seen in action in the 400m semi-final (7.38pm), followed by Smyth’s second appearance in the 200m semi-final (8.35pm).
The limelight will then shift to the women’s 1,500m final where Ciara Mageean and Sarah Healy will be vying for European prestige (9.40pm Irish time). Both Mageean and Healy’s qualification for the European 1,500 metres final seemed rather smooth but the Sunday night medal war promises to be a different ball game.
Mageean, who’s now 32 years old, is quite familiar with what it takes to emerge victorious on this platform. She has experience clinching both silver and bronze medals in the past. However, she has been disappointed before, finishing fourth three years ago behind Laura Muir of Britain. Her main aim in this championship doesn’t need explanation.
Even though Muir is not competing this time, Mageean will still have to face stiff competition from a trio of British competitors. One of them is Jemma Reekie, who clocked in a winning time during Mageean’s Friday morning heat.
Despite the competition, Mageean remains a strong contender. With her best time of 3:55.87, she is the quicker and more seasoned finalist, securing a spot by gracefully nailing third place in the qualifying round. The main hurdle for her is harnessing her finishing speed to outmatch Reekie, a worthy adversary at 26 years old, who claimed the 800m silver at the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow, and just recently won an 800m race in Stockholm.
Mageean, avid runner from Portaferry, shared that she’s prepared for whatever strategies the race presents. She cited her recent personal best time in the 800 metres as proof of her speed. She feels that she enters this championship as one of the favourites, a position she hasn’t held previously. Although it adds some pressure, it’s no match for the pressure she puts on herself. For her, to witness Amhrán na bhFiann playing around the stadium would be a dream come true.
Also competing is the 23-year-old Healy appearing in her first senior final. Her route to the final wasn’t as smooth, as she came fourth in the second heat. Her time was 4:12.30, narrowly behind the winner, France’s Agatha Guillemot, who clocked in at 4:11.92. She had a close call with 200m to go, narrowly avoiding a collision that took out two runners. Healy was just beaten to the final by her training partner, Brit Georgia Bell, and another competitor, Katie Snowden who secured the second and third spots.
Healy has expressed her anticipation, feeling free from any sense of pressure. With a situation offering only benefits, she’s eager to discover her capabilities. Here’s the line-up of Irish participants for this Sunday’s evening schedule, in Irish local time:
19:05: Participants from the Irish Women’s 400m semi-finals are Rhasidat Adeleke, Sharlene Mawdsley, Sophie Becker.
19:38: The Men’s 400m semi-finals have Christopher O’Donnell as the competitor from Ireland.
20:35: Mark Smyth will participate in the Men’s 200m semi-finals.
21:36: Representing Ireland, Ciara Mageean and Sarah Healy will take part in the Women’s 1,500m final.