Irish sprinter Ciara Neville strikes gold in Tbilisi

Ciara Neville won gold yesterday in the 100m final at the European Youth Olympic Festival in Tbilisi, Georgia.

The Emerald AC starlet sped to glory in a time of 12.01 seconds ahead of Poland’s Klaudia Adamek (12.16) and Norway’s Ingvild Meinseth (12.17).

Neville won her heat and semi-final on Monday in 11.90 and 11.92 respectively.

The 15-year-old was the fastest going into the final and lived up to her favourite’s tag in style.

Earlier this month she competed in the European Junior Athletics Championships in Eskilstuna, Sweden, making the semi-finals of the 100m and finished fourth as part of the women’s 4X100m relay team.

The championships have been a great success for Irish athletes so far. Kevin McGrath (Bohermeen) comfortably qualified for the 1500m final with a third place finish in 4:06.2. Daniel Ryan (Moycarkey Coolcroo) and Ryan Carthy Walsh (Adamstown AC) were equally impressive in the field. Ryan qualified for the long jump final leaping to 6.75m while Carthy Walsh cleared 1.95m to make the high jump final.

Molly Scott (St Laurence O’Toole) advanced to the 100m hurdles final with a second place finish in 13.81 seconds — a new personal best.

In the high jump, Sommer Lecky (Finn Valley) cleared 1.72m to qualify for the final. Finn Valley’s Arron McGlynn and Arlene Crossan were also in fine form qualifying for their respective finals in the 800m (1:57.77) and long jump (5.98m).

And the success wasn’t confined to the track, with some tremendous displays in the pool also.

Conor Ferguson won silver in the 100m backstroke in 56.44 seconds. The 16-year-old Larne swimmer was ranked second going into the final, after he won his semi-final in 56.61.

Antoinette Neamt won bronze in the 800m freestyle in an extremely close race in 8 minutes 47.12 seconds. The 14-year-old was just .13 of a second behind silver medallist Petra Barocsai of Hungary.

Gold went to Barocsai’s Hungarian teammate Ajna Kesely in 8:44.72.