In the Continental Tour meeting in Bydgoszcz on Thursday evening, Thomas Barr narrowly missed out on automatic Olympic qualification for his third attendance in the 400m hurdles. His performance, finishing second with a time of 48.79 seconds, was just shy of the Paris standard of 48.70 seconds. Nevertheless, this race will contribute significantly to his ranking points, placing him within the quota of 40 athletes poised to compete in Paris, eight years after his stellar debut at the 2016 Olympics where he finished a close fourth, just .05 seconds away from a bronze medal.
Matheus Lima of Brazil outperformed his previous personal best with a time of 48.31 seconds, claiming victory and securing his position for the upcoming Olympics in Paris.
In contrast, there are important days ahead for Barr. He will celebrate his 32nd birthday just two days prior to the start of the Olympics, and the National Championships in the following week offers him an opportunity to increase his ranking points ahead of the June 30th deadline. In addition to this, it looks highly likely that Barr will feature in the 4x400m mixed relay team, travelling to Paris as a pivotal part of the team that triumphed at the European Championships in Rome earlier this month, where he ran the third relay leg.