Irish athletes must react in right way to mixed bag of performances at European Indoors

In the end, the Irish medal hopes boiled down to one athlete

Ireland’s Sean Tobin feels the strain in the Men’s 3000m final at the 2021 European Athletics Indoor Championships, in Torun, Poland. Picture: Inpho/Morgan Treacy

Anytime an Irish athletics team returns from a European Championship without a medal, the natural inclination is to label it a failure. Part of that is due to being spoiled in the past by the exploits of an elite few.

In Glasgow two years ago, it was Mark English and Ciara Mageean netting a pair of bronze medals, keeping that long line of medallists growing at a championships where Ireland is consistently competitive.