Gregan hot in Helsinki

Brian Gregan will line up for today’s final of the men’s 400m at the European championships in Helsinki as a live medal hope after another impressive performance in the semi-finals that saw him claim automatic qualification by finishing second.

At this stage in his career, the 22-year-old Clonliffe Harrier, who was a silver medallist at last year’s European under-23 championships in Ostrava, has to approach every race as a final and he did just that in yesterday’s semi-final when his time — 45.76 secs — was just short of the pb he set at 45.91 in Wednesday’s first round.

Victory went to gold medal favourite, Pavel Maslak (Czech Rep) in 45.76 secs but Gregan’s powerful run down the finishing straight left Kacper Kozlowski (Poland), 46.54, and Eric Kruger (Germany), 46.68, scrambling for qualification as fastest losers.