Semi-final will sort men from the boys, says Thomas Barr

The prize ahead is one he’s yet to get his hands on, an achievement Thomas Barr would dearly love to secure here in the desert city of Doha, Qatar: a world final.

Between him and that today there is one lap of the track, 10 hurdles and seven rivals. If he can finish in the top two in the 400m hurdles semi-final – or be one of the two fastest losers – then his CV will bulge even more with the brilliance of a consistently world-class operator.