Gregan through to 400m semi-finals

He felt he hadn’t done enough to qualify, but Brian Gregan is still through to the semi-finals of the 400m at the World Athletics Championships in Moscow.

An injury-afflicted season has seen Gregan forced into skipping some key races this season, but the Clonliffe Harrier had enough speed to progress to the last 24 as a fastest-loser.

There was a fear Gregan would be left behind at the midway point, but the Dubliner fought back to record a time of 46.04 seconds in sixth-place in a heat won by Brazilian Anderson Henriques in 45.13.

Despite recording a time faster than an automatic qualifier in the opening heat, Gregan still felt he would be bowing out early, but as the races progressed, his hand got stronger and he would not be dislodged.

For Gregan, even making it to Moscow was a key achievement: “It was ok. I’ve been fighting a few injuries since the World Student Games last month.

“My Achilles has been bothering me a lot. It hasn’t really cleared up and has been on and off.

“I don’t know how I made it to the start line, I’ve missed a lot. You can’t miss key sessions when you’re racing these boys.

“To run 46.0 this early in the morning? I’ve never done that before. It’s a step in the right direction.”

Other heats were won by reigning world and Olympic champion Kirani James and his immediate predecessor for both titles, LaShawn Merritt.

The women’s 100m heats saw victories for Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Muriel Ohoure, Verena Sailer and Blessing Okagbare.

Tori Peña is the only other Irish competitor involved at the Luzhniki today – her pole vault qualification begins at 4:10pm Irish time.