Republic of Ireland users can watch all the athletics from Birmingham live on RTÉ.ie/sport this weekend.
David Gillick and Alistair Cragg both expressed their satisfaction after successful runs in the heats of the 400metres and 3,000metres respectively at the start of the European Indoor Championships in Birmingham today.
Gillick finished first in his heat to qualify for this evening’s semi-final and said: ‘I’m pleased to get round 1 out of the way.
‘I just wanted to get through and save as much energy as possible. The lanes were a little tight so I was pleased with my time as well. It’s good to have the show on the road.’
Cragg finished third in his heat and third in the 3,000m overall in a time of 7:53.18, which easily qualified him for tomorrow’s final.
Cragg was also happy, but had sympathy for British runner Mo Farah who fell during the race and was under pressure from then on: ‘I’m ready, I felt very good today. I feel sorry for Mo, you don’t want that to happen to anyone.
‘I could have injected some pace at that point but didn’t want to do that. Then one of the Spanish guys injected the pace anyway. I am sure Mo will still qualify. The final will be a level playing field we will all be fresh and it’s anyone’s game.’
Farah did evenutally qualify as a fastest loser.
