Super silver for rising star Gregan

BRIAN GREGAN took his career to anew level with asilver medal in the men’s 400m at the European U23 championships with a new personal best time of 46.12 secs in Ostrava on Saturday.

The 21-year-old Clonliffe Harrier, who also finished second in his semi-final on Thursday, repeated that performance when he split the two British competitors, Nigel Levine and Luke Lennon-Ford, in an enthralling final.

His time, 46.12 secs, is a new lifetime best and leads the list of Irish performers for 2011 ahead of Brian Murphy (UCC) who ran 46.41 in Brussels and national record holder, David Gillick, whose best for the year is 46.64 which he ran in New York.

Saturday’s final was won by Levine in 46.10 secs with Lennon-Ford third in 46.22 secs ahead of Vladimir Krasnov (Russia), 46.20 secs, and Mame-Ibra Anne (France) who pb’d at 46.32 secs.

It was a rewarding result for Gregan who has gone through a frustrating period of injury that was highlighted by a disappointing performance at the European indoor championships in Paris.

His performance in Thursday’s semi-finals earned him a prime lane five for Saturday’s final and he was in medal contention right from the gun and was just pipped by Levine in a thrilling finish.

“Brian ran a very sensible race and his tactics were perfect,” his coach, John Shields, said. “He is a great athlete to train and the few setbacks he has had in the past has only made him stronger as a person and as an athlete.”

It is the second major championship medal won by Irish athletes inside a couple of weeks, following Kate Veale’s gold medal in the 5k walk at the world youths championships in Lille.

It also strikes another blow for the current crop of U23 athletes. The cross-country team won the team title for Ireland in the U23 race at the European cross-country championships in the Algarve last December.

Jessie Barr (Ferrybank AC) set a new personal best at 56.62 secs — a national under-23 record — for fifth place in the final of the women’s 400m hurdles. The gold medal went to Hanna Titimets (Ukraine) in 54.91 secs from Meghan Beesley (Great Britain), who set a new pb at 55.69 secs and Vera Barbosa (Portugal) who set a new national record at 55.81 secs.

And there was another pb for Mullingar man, Steven Colvert (Crusaders AC), when he won his semi-final of the men’s in 200m 20.76 secs before finishing in sixth in the final in 21.03 secs behind Likourges Tsakanos (Greece) who won in 20.56 secs. Kourosh Foroughi finished seventh in the final of the men’s high jump with a best clearance of 2.18m.

Niamh Whelan (Ferrybank AC) finished seventh in her semi-final of the womens’ 200m in 23.92 secs while her Ferrybank clubmate, Mairead Murphy, placed fourth in her head of the 100m hurdles in 13.79 secs while Sara Treacy, who set a pb of 4:16.32 in the semi-finals, finished 10th in the final of the women’s 1,500m in 4:25.91.

The three Irish athletes failed to progress from the semi-finals of the men’s 1,500m. Paul Robinson (St. Coca’s) finished sixth in his semi-final in 3:46.52 while, in the other semi-final, Darren McBrearty (Letterkenny AC) finished 13th in 3:50.39 And John Travers (Donore Harriers) finished 14th in 3:54.31.