Barr confident of ‘settling’ after securing final place

By Cathal Dennehy

Thomas Barr did enough last night, but if he is to harbour medal hopes in tomorrow night’s final of the 400m hurdles at the European Championships, much better will be needed.

The 26-year-old is well aware of that, his second-place finish in last night’s semi-final in Berlin well in arrears of race winner Yasmani Copello of Turkey, who cruised to the finish in 48.88.

Barr’s time of 49.10 was a fraction down on his season’s best of 48.99, and well off his lifetime best of 47.97, but the Waterford man admitted afterwards he was struck by nerves ahead of the race, which he doesn’t expect to encounter tomorrow.

Once I get to the final, I’m more settled into the championship and have a race plan in my head. The first race is always the worst for it, but when you come into a final it’s like, ‘great, let’s go for it now’.

Barr made a strong opening to last night’s race, but lost contact with the leaders up the back straight, requiring him to unleash a powerful finish to move from fourth to second over the final 100 metres.

“I felt like I went out very well to hurdle four and then I relaxed a bit too much. It was taking a bit more out of me than it should, so I eased off and refocused going into hurdle seven, but I knew I had the strength in the finishing straight to close down and to finish second.”

In the final, Norway’s Karsten Warholm will be the overwhelming favourite, along with Copello, and it’s likely Barr will require a time in the region of 48.7 to secure a minor medal, which he believes is possible.

“If I can pull out a really good race, on paper, on statistics, there’s a medal there, but at championships, anything can happen. It’s all to play for.”

Barr has drawn lane eight for the final, something he doesn’t believe will adversely affect him.

It really makes no odds. If I was in lane one I’d have a view of the whole field, but in lane eight you’ve not got as sharp a turn so you can attack the hurdles more.

Phil Healy brought her first assignment of the week to a close when bowing out of the women’s 100m last night after finishing seventh in her semi-final — and 20th overall — with 11.46.

“I’m really happy, that’s still one of my quickest runs,” declared the Ballineen sprinter, who will be back on track for the 200m heats on Friday.

Sligo 20-year-old Chris O’Donnell impressed in his senior championship debut, running a season’s best from lane one of 46.81 to finish sixth.

“I’m one of the youngest competitors here and this experience will stand to me in future championships,” he said.

Elsewhere, Brendan Boyce faced a different kind of test yesterday, the 31-year-old Donegal man making life as difficult as possible for himself in the men’s 50km race walk with his early exuberance in stifling heat.

After an injury-hit summer, one in which Boyce missed six weeks of training with a stress fracture in his tibia, he threw himself towards the front of the race through the first half, the wheels eventually coming off as he struggled home 19th.

There was method in what many believed to be madness, however. In the days before, with his fitness under question, Boyce’s mentor Rob Heffernan told him suffering would be inevitable here in Berlin and, with temperatures soaring into the 30s, he figured he’d be as well off dying near the front of the field as dying at the back.

I thought I may as well have a pop,” said Boyce. “I had to try gain some experience out of the race in some way and I felt that was the best way to do it.

At 30km Boyce was still in the medal hunt, but by 40km the wheels were starting to loosen and he slipped back over the final hour before reaching the line in 4:02:14, 16 minutes behind gold medallist Maryan Zakalytskyy of Ukraine.

“That was the toughest race I’ve ever done,” said Boyce, and, shortly before he was helped away by Irish support staff, he vowed that the effort would not be in vain.

“If I’m 100%, you’ll see me in the lead group [next year] and hopefully it’ll be for 50K, not 35K.”

There was no joy for Síofra Cléirigh-Buttner or Claire Mooney in the 800m heats, the former finishing sixth in her heat in 2:02.80, with the latter fading from first to eighth over the final 200m, clocking 2:04.26.

Stephen Scullion came home 23rd in the men’s 10,000m final in 29:46.87, a race won by France’s Morhad Amdouni in 28:11.22.