English and Barr get job done
âIâve never felt that good before,â said English in bullish mood immediately after his race yesterday evening. âIf I get through to the final then thatâs the big one,â continued English, who goes into this eveningâs semi-final as the fastest qualifier.
âYouâve got to be confident,â stated the UCD medicine student whose main contenders for gold on Friday will be Pierre Ambroise Bosse of France and the Polish pair of Adam Ksczczot and Marcin Lewandowski. âIâm looking forward to giving them a good bash anyway,â rounded out the confident Donegal man.
Thomas Barr got off to the perfect start in the Letzigrund arena, winning his heat from lane two in 49.79. It was all about qualifying for the Ferrybank athlete with todayâs semi-final the real challenge.
âJob done,â said Barr. âI knew qualification for today wasnât going to be that difficult but thereâs pressure there. Wednesday is going to be the real proof. Itâs going to be fighting from three semi-finals with two spots available. Itâs going to be like a mini final but Iâm looking forward to it.â
Barr knows he will have to attack his national record of 48.90 seconds if he is to get a good lane for that final.
Bandonâs Phil Healy was narrowly denied a place in the 100m semi-final, running 11.53 seconds for sixth place in her heat.
âI was really close to qualifying, just two-hundredths of a second off,â she said.
âTo come so close is gutting. To be at a European senior championships at 19, though, is just unbelievable.â
Healy got off to a flying start in her heat, but struggled to stay with her more seasoned rivals over the final 50m. The race was won by former European champion Ivet Lalova of Bulgaria in 11.17 seconds.
âWhen I get back home, Iâll sit down and analyse the race, see what I did wrong, transfer it into experience and see what I can do next year,â she said.
Healyâs attention now turns to the 4x100m relay, where she will run the anchor leg for the Irish team that competes in the qualifying heats on Saturday.
âIâm really looking forward to that,â she said. âThe Irish record of 43.92 seconds is well within our capabilities. The baton changes are going really well. All we have to do is get that baton around and any country has a shot. We can make the final on Sunday.â
Amy Foster clinched the last qualifying spot, finishing fifth in her heat in 11.51 seconds.
Ten Irish athletes competed in total on day one but it was Fionnuala Britton last on the track and with an opportunity for a medal in the womenâs 10,000m.
It wasnât to be, however, in a slow, tactical affair won by Britainâs 40-year-old Jo Pavey in 32:22.39. Britton faded over the last two laps but battled for an eighth-place finish and seasonâs best of 32:32.45. French duo Clemence Calvin and Laila Traby rounded out the podium running 32:23.58 and 32:26.03 respectively.
âI donât think I ran with enough confidence in that race,â said Britton. âI wanted a medal out of that and I didnât run like I was running for a medal I donât think.â
Britton moves to the marathon on Saturday and said it was something of a last-minute decision to double up.
âIt was very close to a last-minute decision. I put it out there. It wasnât that it was a big secret really. Itâs two years to go to Rio which is what Iâm hoping to do then.â
As for medal chances and a performance on Saturday, the Kilcoole athlete spoke like an athlete going into the unknown.
âI really honestly donât know,â said 29-year-old. âI donât know how I could know.â
What we do know is that English and Barr are in fine fettle as they look to qualify for their respective finals this evening.
Thomas Barr got the day off to the perfect start winning his heat in 49.79 to qualify for todayâs semi-final. He stuttered around the top bend but finished strongly to take the win from lane 2. Greater challenges lie ahead
Harvey was out of sorts from lane 1 and he faded to 7th in heat 5 in 51.91 seconds. The Crusaders athlete has been struggling with an ankle injury since before the Commonwealth Games where he ran for Northern Ireland.
âI am not happy to not get the automatic qualification, it was really close,â said Foster who snaffled the last qualifying spot with a time of 11.51 seconds.
It wasnât to be for the Bandon bullet on her first appearance on the senior international stage. Nonetheless, 11.53 seconds for 6th in her heat was two hundredths shy of a semi-final berth. A great experience and sheâll have gained a lot.
You canât ask for much more than a personal best at a major championship. Morrissey delivered that with a 46.20 second run to place 6th in heat 2 of the menâs 400m.
An automatic qualifying spot for the semi-finals was a positive step for the Clonliffe Harrier. 46.33 seconds was not the type of time he would have been hoping for but a strong headwind on the home straight for his heat made the time irrelevant. Qualifying was a must.
Lavin was dismayed initially after her 8th place finish in the 100m hurdles in 13.35 seconds. It placed her 29th overall â the same as her ranking going into the championships. It was a good learning experience for the 20-year-old UCD student in what was stiff competition.
Oozed class in heat two of the menâs 800m semi-finals as the fastest qualifier with 1:47.38. He said he never felt better. And he never looked better from the stands.
Was in a good position in his 800m heat but faded to 7th in 1:50.01 after being clipped with 120m to go.
Britton was looking for more than an 8th place finish but realistically, it was a solid performance going on her form this year.
Drawn in heat 2 of the 400m hurdles at 10:05am, the Ballymena and Antrim athlete will struggle to progress. Improving on her personal best of 56.97 will be a good result for the future.
Barr will look to be the Irish man to make a 400m hurdles final at 17:02 but he has a tough draw for his semi-final. Kariem Hussein (Switzerland), Yoan Decimus (France) and Emir Bekric (Serbia) will all provide stiff competition. It will be a mini final. There are three semi-finals with the top two in each and the two fastest losers to qualify.
It will take below 45.5 seconds to make the final of the 400m which will be a big challenge for Gregan, seeing as his seasonâs best is only 45.94.
Morrisseyâs goal will be to improve on the personal best (46.20) he set in the first round. Wonât advance but will be another valuable race ahead of the 4x400m relay.
A top class performance from English saw him win his heat with ease and go into todayâs semi-finals as the fastest qualifier with 1:47.38. Better positioning between 300-550m should seem him progress to the final comfortably.
She will have to break her Irish record of 11.40 to get any further in the womenâs 100m. Itâs a fast track so a record could be in sight.
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