‘Bittersweet’ Euro finale for Robinson
Robinson was an agonising fourth, passed by Great Britain’s Chris O’Hare in the last 30m, while Ó Lionáird’s race was run with 600m to go when he got clipped from behind.
“Bittersweet,” was Robinson’s reply after his 3:46.35 race, won comfortably by the most infamous athlete of the championships, Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad, of France, in 3:45.60.
Norway’s Henrik Ingebrigsten took the silver in 3:46.10 but it was the Frenchman who stole all the headlines this week — he brought the championships a greater focus to the wider sporting public, after being disqualified in the 3,000m steeplechase for waving his singlet in the air on his way to victory in the last 100m. His stripping act saw him stripped of his gold medal for failing to have his bib number on display.
“People making noise do not understand anything about sport and just come here to eat some chips,” said the colourful Benabbad of his disqualification.
The Frenchman has drawn division for his antics but he was able to redeem himself with a classy last lap and capture a gold medal in the 1500m. There will be no second chances for Robinson and Ó Lionáird, though.
“I think I did everything right, it’s just one of those things,” said Robinson, who made a real step-up in class at these championships.
“I had it and it got taken away from me. I am absolutely gutted. I knew I was in bronze medal position, I could sense the others around me, my legs just buckled. In time I’ll take confidence out of that, I kicked down some really good people.”
The sporting gods were not kind to Ó Lionáird, either. The Leevale athlete was in what seemed perfect position to strike with 600m left, on the shoulder of the leader and apparently out of trouble in a bunched tactical battle. Robinson on the other hand was trapped in the bunch, on the inside rail.
But then disaster struck: “I just got stood on with 600m to go,” said the Macroom man. “I felt it on my right hamstring badly and then from there I got stood on to the back of my tendon. It’s disappointing you feel kind of hard done by, but that’s sport.
“I love this sport to death but it breaks my heart sometimes. I tried to do everything right today. I’ll be back. I want redemption.”
Thomas Barr did find redemption from his failure to make the 400m hurdles final with a stirring last leg in the men’s 4x400m final, which saw Ireland place fifth with a world class time of 3:01.67.
“That was redemption,” said Barr of the performance which made up for his individual disappointment.
The Irish team set a national record on Saturday of 3:03.57 to qualify for Sunday’s final automatically with a quartet of Brian Gregan, Brian Murphy, Richard Morrissey and Barr.
The previous record of 3:03.73 was run at the European championships in Munich in 2002 — the 12-year-old record barely lasting 12 hours. Mark English was subbed in for Brian Murphy, who ran a canny second leg in the heats, for the final with great effect.
“The last Irish record lasted for 12 years. This one lasted for 12 hours,” chirped a delighted Gregan after their top-class performance. Great Britain & NI won a high quality race in 2:58.79.
The Irish performance would be good enough to make Olympic and world finals and with an average age of 23 for the final team, the future is bright alongside seasoned campaigners like Murphy in the panel to add depth.
The sun shone early, for a change, yesterday morning and Ireland’s marathon men of Sean Hehir, Thomas Frazer and Kevin Seaward matched the seventh place team result of the Irish women on Saturday, led by Fionnuala Britton’s debut for the classic distance.
Hehir led the Irish home in 2:17:59. Seaward finished 28th in 2:20:30 while Frazer was 35th in 2:22:33. Italy’s Daniele Meucci won in 2:11:08 on the thronged streets of Zurich.
Britton made a solid debut on Saturday to finish 10th in 2:31:46 in a race won by France’s Christelle Daunay in a championship record of 2:25:14. Sarah Mulligan finished 36th in 2:42:43 while Barbara Sanchez finished 41st in 2:43:59.
“I suppose I have to be happy with that,” said Britton of her first effort following her eighth place finish in the 10,000m earlier in the week.
Bandon’s Phil Healy anchored the women’s 4 x100m relay team of Amy Foster, Kelly Proper and Sarah Lavin to a new Irish record of 43.83 in the heats on Saturday afternoon but it was unfortunately not enough to advance.
The championships lasted the distance for Irish interest but it was the bad boy Mekhissi-Benabbad who put athletics in the international spotlight this week.
“Generally pretty good but still not quite at the bar we should be,” said O’Sullivan who was a pundit for RTÉ for the championships.
“Mark [English] was one medal and it seems one person always seems to save the day for everyone else and they get all the plaudits, while others are left to pick up the pieces and move forward by themselves before they are remembered again in a few months. I still think we go to championships hoping to do well rather than knowing we can do well and knowing that we do belong. It was probably the best overall team performance but the standard in Europe is not very high across all events. We should be targeting events like the women’s steeplechase.”
Fionnuala Britton became the fourth fastest female marathon runner ever on her debut and with specific preparation will improve greatly. She may still be well served to focus on the 10,000m where she still has the ability to perform at major championships.
Mahiedine Mekhissi-Bennabad’s stripshow in the men’s 3,000m steeplechase grabbed the general public’s attention. His disqualification was probably the right decision but the colourful Frenchman added an extra dimension with his Gallic flair.
Mark English’s bronze medal performance in the 800m confirmed the latent talent of the 21-year-old Donegal man. The Irish record of 1:44.82 awaits.
The ticket pricing of the championships put many people off attending the championships with €500 the cheapest you could watch the action for the week in its entirety. Coupled with the general expense of Zurich it resulted in a pricey trip.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
