Ben Reynolds has been forced to withdraw from the 110m hurdles heats at the European Championships this morning.
After a semi-final placing at the World Indoor Championships over 60 metres, the North Down AC man would have been looking to gain valuable experience in Helsinki.
But the 21-year-old has been suffering with hamstring and pelvic injuries and decided not to risk further injury at the European event.
In the first women’s 1500 metres semi-final, an unwell Ciara Mageean finished 12th of 13, in a time well outside her best of four minutes, 19.23 seconds - almost 12 seconds slower than her personal best.
In the second semi-final, Orla Drumm also found the going tough, finishing 12th of 13 in a time of 4:19.61, almost ten seconds outside her best time.
Drumm said afterwards: "I am disappointed with that, when the girls picked up the pace I just didn’t have the legs to go with them. It really shows that I need to work on my 400m speed in order to compete.
"At the start of the season the aim was to make these championships, but being here I wanted to make the final. I will race again in Sweden next week to try for the Olympic A standard.”
The athletes have not been helped by very windy conditions in the stadium.
Paul Robinson missed out on qualifying for tomorrow’s final by just over one second, finishing ninth in his 1500 metres semi-final in a time of 3 minutes 47.26 seconds.
"I am disappointed; I didn’t come over here to make up the numbers. I lost my position with two laps to go and unfortunately that cost me," said Robinson.
"When the pace started to wind up I wasn’t able to get back to them. I have certainly learned a lot from this experience,” he added.
Later this evening, Stephanie Reilly runs in the 3000 metres steeplechase final, Mark Kenneally and David Rooney go in the 10,000m final, and Paul Hession competes in the 200m final.
The men's and women's 4 x 400 metres relay teams will also be hoping to book their places in tomorrow's finals.
The women’s team are currently ranked 12th based on their combined, two best performances.
If they can improve on their second best time of 3.30.61, this will further cement their position for London.
