Paul Hession has qualified for the final of the 200m at the European Athletics Championship as one of the fastest losers.
The Athenry athlete was placed fourth in his semi-final after the winner of the race, Greece's Likourgos Tsakonas, was disqualified for breaking his lane.
Earlier, Hession finished second in his heat in a season’s best time of 20.75 to comfortably progress to the semi-final.
Hession’s time of 20.84 was slower than the time he ran earlier in the heats (20.75).
The 29-year-old was again critical of the controversial track in the Finnish capital.
“That was shocking; I didn’t run well at all,” Hession said.
“ I cannot emphasise enough how difficult it is to run the bends. I feel sorry for the Greek athlete, as he is a good championships runner."
He added: “My time will only get me lane one or two in the final; hopefully I get lane two."
“If anything, these championships have given me good experience for London, getting to run three rounds in 36 hours.”
