So close and yet so far for Barr!
The obvious headline as Thomas Barr failed in his attempt to qualify for the 400m hurdles at Paris 2024.
At the European Championships in Rome, Barr finished third in his semi-final, but only the top two automatically progressed.
And then at the recent National Championships in Santry, the Ferrybank athlete, despite winning in a time of 50.61, was short of the automatic qualifying standard of 48.70.
There was the hope that those ahead of him in the rankings would drop out; they didn't. But a third Olympics beckons for Barr as part of the 4x400m mixed relay team - the opportunity to follow up on the gold medal won at the Europeans on 7 June.
There was a moment of grieving after the Waterford native failed in his quest to make it as an individual competitor in Paris.
On those regrets, he told RTÉ Sport at the Team Ireland athletics squad announcement: "I had that 'oh, what if?'. I sort of went back into historical data of 'oh, if I could have run this time here or if I had gotten a few extra points at this race or if I had run 49.8 or 9 at the national championships, I’d have qualified'.
"It was like a kick to my pride and also I shot and missed, in that I put a huge amount of work this year into getting qualified for Paris over the hurdles and it didn't pay off.
"Yeah, look, I'm not going to sugar-coat it, it was very disappointing because it's been my game for so long and I had qualified for a championships every single year since 2011.
"This is the first one that I really felt I missed out on but again, checking my privilege, I've been lucky to have had that kind of a track record.
"What I just meant was that this one was quite difficult because I put in nearly more work this year.
"Because I was injured last year for Budapest [World Championships], I didn't have... I was hoping to qualify for the Olympics in Budapest, basically, which is what a lot of athletes did."
That goal was to get it done early and take the pressure off in the months leading up to Paris.
Barr continued: "That was my hope and my aim and I missed that out. I didn't have any other races, really, so I had to build up a huge amount of ranking points this year and I had to chase races, talk about the least optimum way of training for a season was how I went about it this year.
"It was just race, race, race and it put my body at a big risk.
"But I luckily got through it and that's probably a testament to the fact that I've had a very good winter and I relied on that strength.
"I took a little bit of time to grieve about it, to talk about the what ifs, to say this and that, but I think it's been a blessing in disguise because it has taken a huge weight off my shoulders.
"There's a lot of work that goes into the hurdles, a lot of work would have gone into the hurdles this month to get me to a point where I would have been happy coming away from the championships and it is like my workload has halved.
"I've been able to do training sessions with the rest of the training group because they're training on the flat, I'd have been doing it on my own over the hurdles, which I love. I love having that kind of healthy camaraderie within training and it's been very good in that respect.
"The hurdles was kind of almost like a little bit of a... I was never going to be there, compared to the mixed relay, the 400 hurdles was going to be much more difficult to get to the same level for me this year because the event has just moved on so much in the last couple of years.
"So I think the mixed relay is where we can do some good damage, really."
So is that it for Barr, who will turn 32 two days before the start of the Games, in the 400m hurdles, competitively, after winning another national title?
"It could have been, yeah, it literally could have been," he revealed.
"When I saw 50.6 on the clock and how I completely messed up my race, I went out and my Achilles was a little bit tight, and what it did was it shortened my stride ever so slightly and I don't have any leeway or wriggle room when it comes to running from the blocks to the first hurdle.
"So it pulled me back off the hurdle, I had to take the first hurdle with my right leg and then I was on my right leg for half the race, which is my non-preferred leg.
"It just meant I couldn't attack the race, I couldn't focus on my race pattern and it was a matter of survive and get to the finish line at that point.
"So that was really disappointing but at the same time I was delighted with the reception that we got at nationals. There was a huge crowd, standing up on the podium to a full stadium and to a massive crowd and cheer was amazing and if it was my last championships, it's probably a good one to go out on."
The success of the mixed relay team in Rome caught the imagination of the public, as Barr, along with Chris O'Donnell, Rhasidat Adeleke, and Sharlene Mawdsley, delivered gold in spectacular style.
With the scheduling of the 400m heats and finals placing a doubt whether Adeleke will be on hand to help Ireland again, Barr is confident the team can deliver again in France, while also respecting any decision Adeleke will make.
"I think we have a really strong team at the moment and there is a huge amount of depth within the team," he said.
"It's the Olympics and I'm not going to say it is going to be any small feat, we have to be on point and on our game on the day.
"But I still think we can make a final even if Rhasidat decides not to run it. For her to be in the position that she is, challenging for a medal in the 400m and all that.
"I would never hold that against her and everyone in the team will respect whatever decision she makes and we’ll be her loudest supporters when it comes to the 400m.
"It would be great to have her in the team because she is a phenomenal, generational talent to have. She’s also good fun, good craic to have in the squad so I’d miss that part of it as well. She has bigger fish to fry in some respects but we’ll wait and see how it pans out.
"We could arrive out and she says ‘yeah, I’m in’ or ‘I’ll do one round’ or ‘I’ll not be involved at all’. That’s completely up to her and her coach to decide. But, regardless of that, we’ve a really strong cohort of girls in the reserves that are ready to step up and ready to go so even up until the last minute we should be all good."
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