Coscoran: That was the best race of my life

The 25-year-old Balbriggan native finished 10th in his Olympic 1500m semi-final. His time of 3:35.84 just two tenths of a second outside his lifetime best.

Andrew Coscoran of Ireland after the semi-final of the men's 1500 metres at the Olympic Stadium. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

For Andrew Coscoran this is when things got serious – both in his career as a whole and at the Olympics themselves. The 25-year-old had gone into his 1500m heat on Tuesday joking around with his competitors, telling them in the call room he was only here “for the craic”, that he wouldn’t make it through to the semi-final.

But the 25-year-old Balbriggan native did exactly that, his reward a place in the Olympic semi-final on Thursday night, where once again he gave a bold, brave account of himself that suggests his steep upward trajectory will only continue.