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Sarah Lavin misses out on European 100m hurdles medal

Updated / Saturday, 8 Jun 2024 23:04
Sarah Lavin was unable to match the time from her semi-final heat
Sarah Lavin was unable to match the time from her semi-final heat

Sarah Lavin missed out on a medal at the European Athletics Championships after a seventh place finish in Saturday's women's 100m hurdles final.

The Limerick athlete had won her semi-final heat in a season's best 12.73 earlier in Saturday's evening session at Rome's Stadio Olimpico but was unable to repeat that run in the final as she finished in 12.94.

France's Cyrena Samba-Mayela won gold in a championship record time of 12.31.

"The start was really good, it was the same as the semi-final, it was really, really quick. It was the same again there," Lavin told RTÉ Sport's David Gillick after the final.

"And then I hit (the hurdle) with my lead and my trail (leg) I think but badly and I lost everything and I had to start again from scratch because obviously your whole acceleration is gone. I bottled it"

Lavin, who has already qualified for the Paris 2024 Olympics, added that she knows that she is "so much better than that and I think that's what's killing."

Meanwhile, Israel Olatunde was unable to make it into the men's 100m final after finishing sixth in his semi-final heat.

It proved to be a disrupted heat, with two false starts causing a delay and ultimately pushing semi-final one of three back until after the next two semi-final heats took place.

When it finally got underway, Olatunde was unable to keep pace and the 22-year-old finished sixth in a time of 10.40, with Britain's Romell Glave winning the heat in 10.11.

Brian Fay was in action in the men's 5000m final and his time of 13:29.48 was enough to finish 14th.

Tokyo 2020 1500m gold medallist and two-time world champion, Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway, won the race to claim his third European title over the 5000m distance.

Fay, despite his finishing position, was accentuating the positives.

He told RTÉ Sport: "If you told me two month's ago that I was going to come 14th in the Europeans I'd be disappointed, but some of my results in the last few weeks were not good, so today was a positive. I came in 14th and ran a season's best. My last few races have been poor so it's nice to get a little more consistency and bank something positive.

"Obviously you want to perform your best at the Europeans but there's a long way to go until Paris. I have a 10k on Wednesday night, so there's a lot left and hopefully I'll bounce back. It's a positive step in the direction, when you look at it on paper, 14th isn't great, but I had a good close."

Earlier in the day, European relay gold medallist Chris O'Donnell ran a season's best time of 45.69 to qualify ninth fastest for the semi-finals of the 400m.

The Sligo sprinter, who ran the opening leg of Ireland's historic gold medal mixed relay display on Friday, shaved more than half a second off his best to finish fourth in the morning's heats.

He ran strongly around the final bend and the closing straight to beat the 46-second mark, brushing elbows with France's Téo Andant in third. Belgium's Jonathan Sacoor came home first in 45.50.

With the 14 fastest runners across the three heats progressing to the semis - regardless of race placing - O'Donnell was assured of his qualification after the second heat when he ranked fifth fastest across the field.

O'Donnell ultimately wound up the ninth quickest of the 14 qualifiers for Sunday's semis. Italy's Luca Sito finished as the fastest qualifier, easing home in 45.12 in the third heat.

"After last night, such a high and I have to be honest, after very little sleep, I didn't know what to expect coming in here," O'Donnell told David Gillick for RTÉ Sport afterwards. "It was just a case of emptying the tank and seeing what was there.

"To get quite a considerably big season's best, it shows I brought the spirit of last night into this morning. That was what was going through my mind. The history of what we created last night, the buzz.

"We weren't out partying last night. I was lying in bed but I just could not sleep.

"I came out here and I ran well. I have to say I was disappointed with the French athlete in the home straight. I was definitely going to go past him.

"It wasn't even once, it was two or three times, he was really on the outside. I was going to run past him and he wouldn't let me. If I'd missed out by a spot, I might have said something. But we're safely through and that's all that matters.

"Great memories in Rome so far."

Oisín Lane finished 23rd in the men's 20km walk in a time of one hour 25.02 seconds. Appearing in his first senior championships, Lane told Athletics Ireland that it was "a good experience really", even though he admitted that he "did not have a good season of training" leading up to Rome, but ultimately was happy with his showing

"I got a chest infection which stayed with me for two three months, so I didn't have the mileage coming into this, the fitness going in. I said I'll go for a PB pace and see how it goes; I think I kept the PB pace for roughly 8k and then it died off for a little but I was happy I kept on, kept up the effort for the last 12k. I think I gained positions during the last 12k as guys died off, getting DQs, so happy enough."

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