Andrew Coscoran finished 12th in a dramatic men's 1500m final at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, describing the result as "bittersweet".
The Balbriggan native, who had qualified for the final after coming home fifth in his semi-final heat on Monday in a time of three minutes 35.65 seconds, narrowly missed out on a top-10 finish in a race that saw the reigning world champion Joss Kerr of Britain limp home in last position.
Coscoran was not among the leaders at the bell and crossed in 3:35.87 as Portugal's Isaac Nader won gold in 3:34.10, dipping ahead of Scot Jake Wightman at the line. Kenya's Reynold Cheruiyot took the bronze medal. Dutch favourite Niels Laros was fifth in 3:34.52.
Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Cole Hocker, who are the last two Olympic champions in the event, were both absent. Ingebrigtsen went out in the heats and Hocker was disqualified after his semi-final.
Speaking to RTÉ Sport's David Gillick after the race, 29-year-old Star of the Sea AC athlete Coscoran was frustrated at being unable to apply his race strategy.
"Obviously a little bit disappointed," he said.
"I was just trying to find a good position up the front and then ended up wasting a bit of energy around the back too much.
"I just needed to get myself up into position higher up at the bell. I was just too far back but everybody wants to be there [near the front], so it's difficult to get there without wasting energy as well, so it's just one of things."
He added: "Usually if you're top five at the bell, 400 to go, you're generally in a medal position, so it's get into that position. I couldn't get there, and I tried to get there.
"Usually I've a very good last 100 but I kind of made a few surges just because of people in the way. I wanted to go in and give it a full crack, so I was trying to get up the front.
"Probably could have picked a few names at the end there if I had just held back a kick later. But I was towards the back and then trying to make a few moves and just burnt myself out.
"It's a learning experience, I suppose. It's probably what I knew already but sometimes you just can't do anything about it either, unfortunately."
Having impressed during the season and in getting to the World final, Coscoran said his sense of disappointment came from the fact that he couldn't carry that momentum fully into the event climax.
"That's why it's a little bit bittersweet. I ran very well to get into the final, so to not really show up as my normal self there is a little bit disappointing," he said.
"But as the season has gone, I'm pretty happy overall and we're getting a lot closer to what I think I'm capable of. So we'll get there eventually."
Coscoran's involvement at the championships is not over, with the middle distance runner due back in the 5000m heats on Friday, alongside Brian Fay and Darragh McElhinney.
Watch the World Athletics Championships with coverage every day this week on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player
