It has been another good day for Ireland at the European Indoor Athletics Championships in Turin.
Mary Cullen comfortably won the Women’s 3000m Heat this morning in 8.55.01, and goes into tomorrow’s final at 15.30 Irish time as the fastest qualifier.
Wicklow’s Deirdre Byrne was in action in heat one and ran an excellent tactical race to smash her personal best by four seconds running 9.00.67 to claim a place in the final tomorrow along with Cullen.
Roisin McGettigan put in an excellent performance in the final of the 1500m. McGettigan finished fourth and just missed out on a medal in a time of 4.11.58, and she was just one tenth of a second off third placed Sonja Roman of Slovenia.
Paul Hession was in action in the semi final of the 60m. The Galway athlete had a season’s best in the semi final as he finished 5th in a time of 6.66.
However it wasn’t enough for Hession to qualify for tomorrow’s final. Hession’s semi final was won by Great Britiain’s Dwain Chambers in a new European record of 6.42.
At her first major Championships, Kelly Proper finished 7th in the final of the Long Jump with a jump of 6.37m.
Proper was unable to match her record breaking performance from her qualification, where she jumped 6.59m, but the 20-year-old is a great prospect for the future.
Niamh Whelan was first of the Irish to compete on day two of the European Indoor Championships, after a blistering start she finished 6th in Round 1 of the Women’s 60m, equalling her personal best of 7.49.
Ailis McSweeney meanwhile, finished 6th in her heat in 7.51. However neither result were enough to qualify for the semi-final stages.
In the High Jump Qualification rounds this morning, Deirdre Ryan was unable to the match the form she showed earlier in the season when she set a new Irish Record of 1.93m.
She failed at 1.89m today. A jump of 1.85m was good enough to make the final, however the DSD’s athlete had cleared 1.85m on her second attempt and failed to qualify for the final based on count-back.
David McCarthy was unable to progress to the final of the 800m. The Waterford athlete came home sixth in his semi final in a time of 1.53.53.
All eyes will be on the 3000m final tomorrow with Mary Cullen and Deirdre Byrne both in action at 15.30, while the 4x400m Relay team will be in action in the final at 16.35.
