In the men's 3000m final at the World Indoor Championships in Torun, Poland, Nick Griggs was the first Irishman home in ninth position with a 7:39.03 clocking.
Team-mate Andrew Coscoran stuck to the back of the field and Griggs, running in his first indoor championships, positioned himself in the middle of the pack for the opening 1500m, with the first kilometre run in a slow 2:38.
It was a tricky tactical affair and Coscoran moved through the field moving one place ahead of Griggs as the pace picked up at the 2000m mark.
The Irishmen were taking up the rear of the leading pack with 400m to run, but the Tyrone native moved through, picking off several athletes to finish just over three seconds adrift of the leaders, closing the final mile in a swift 3:58.
Griggs said the ninth-place finish wasn't a disaster but felt his position at 400m impacted his ability to cover late moves.
"It's obviously not a horrendous run, but I just had expectations to come a little better, and I think I just wasn't close enough. When the bell hit, 400 to go hit, I just wasn't close enough and I should have been a little bit closer," Griggs told RTÉ Sport in Torun.
The 21-year-old picked off two athletes in the final 200m and looked full of running in the home straight.
"It just felt like there was a bit more there... I gave it all I had on the day, at the end of the day and again, top 10 in the world. I think I'm being a bit hard on myself because there was only 15 in the race."
The successful underage athlete admitted that being in a senior competition felt like a step up, and feels his top-ten finish is a good start for his senior career.
"It's not a European Championships, it's not a European Juniors, it's not a Under 23s, it's a world senior final and you're sat there with the best athletes in the world and it's a different feeling.
Nick Griggs told @gregallenRTE his top-ten finish in the 3000m at the World Indoors was 'mediocre' but that it was a good start to his senior career. 🗣️
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) March 21, 2026
🔗Read the full day two report: https://t.co/TKHqX2I7qk pic.twitter.com/VWKQwDXsk3
"I think it's a very good starting point and for me, I'm only going upwards training-wise and I think that's only ever a positive thing. It can only ever lead to results getting better and better and as long as we can just stay consistent with it... So hopefully we can come and win a medal. I don't want to say in the near future, but in the future."
Coscoran ran 7:43.89 for 13th position.
2024 champion Josh Kerr held on to regain his title, crossing just ahead of Olympic 1500m champion Cole Hocker in a time of 7:35.56.
After securing qualification to the 60m semi-finals by one thousandth of a second, Lauren Roy equalled her second-fastest time ever, 7.23 seconds, to finish sixth in the third of three semi-finals.
The race was won by Joinelle Smith of Jamacia in a new personal best time of 7.03 seconds.
The Antrim native attends Tarleton State in the United States and said she was satisfied with her performance at the championships.
"I'm so grateful to have made a world semi-final. Like, I'm not disappointed at all. I know for a fact that I have a faster time in me.
"Obviously, given better conditions in terms of jet lag, travel, all of that. But I absolutely know I'm capable of more. So I'm super content."
Roy has knocked over two tenths off her time this year and feels the speed test of the 60m will bode well for her main event, the 200m.
"As a predominant 200 metre, 100 metre athlete to shave off so much time in the 60 meters is fantastic for me."
In the final Italian Zaynab Dosso completed her medal collection adding gold to the silver and bronze she has won in previous editions, equalling the 7.00 second time she ran in the semi-final to take the global title.
Simon Ehammer from Switzerland broke the indoor heptathlon world record that has been held by multi-eventing legend Ashton Eaton since 2012, posting 6670 points for the seven events.
After an impressive 8.16m long jump, Ehammer looked certain to break the world record, only needing 2:43 in the 1000m to break Eaton’s mark, but the Swiss athlete set a new personal best of 2:41.04 in the distance event to add 25 points to the previous best score.
Mondo Duplantis claimed his fourth-straight world indoor title in the men's pole vault with a first-time clearance at 6.25m to better his own championship record.
Earlier, Mark English just missed out on qualifying for his first-ever global final by finishing fourth in heat two of the men's 800m on Saturday afternoon.
The Donegal man slotted into fifth position after the break, with British athlete Ben Pattinson controlling things at the front. English made a decisive move at the 500m mark, taking on the pace with a lap to run.
But the 33-year-old was swallowed up on the final bend and ran out of space, coming through on the inside on the home straight, crossing in 1:46.70.
Fast 8 Track club team-mate Peter Bol took the win with a time of 1:46.21 and Japan's Allon Tatsunami Clay took second spot in 1:46.47.
The indoor national record holder will likely be disappointed as he was ranked fifth in the world for the event this year, but the closely contested semi-finals had cut throat qualification, with only the top two qualifying and no non-automatic places for Sunday's final on offer.
Ciara Neville made her return to individual international competition and was fourth in her heat of the women's 60m, clocking 7.31 seconds, which wasn’t quick enough to qualify for the semi-final.
After getting advanced due to a disqualification, Maeve O'Neill found herself off the back of the pack in the closing stages of semi-final one in the women's 800m.
The Cork athlete positioned herself well at the break, and eventually finished in sixth position in 2:02.46, six tenths quicker than the time she ran in yesterday's heats.
World indoor record holder Keely Hodgkinson was the fastest of the qualifiers to Sunday's final, running 1:58.53 in semi-final two. American Addy Wiley was just behind Hodgkinson, running a personal best of 1:58.75.
Listen to live updates from the World Athletics Championships on Saturday and Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1.
