Jessie Barr faces big decision on making push for Tokyo Games

Jessie Barr would dearly love to don an Irish singlet at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo but the first hurdle the Waterford woman has to clear is the uncertainty as to whether she actually wants to race again.

A member of the women’s 4x400m relay hurdles team that competed at the Games in London six years ago, Barr has been a European Championship finalist and an Irish U23 record holder but athletics has lost ground in her list of priorities.

Halfway through a PhD in sports psychology, she is also lecturing at the University of Limerick but her progress on the track has been stalled more or less since 2012 by a debilitating run of injuries.