Not all doom and gloom for Irish at the World Championships

Ireland’s Rhasidat Adeleke before running in the heats of the Women’s 400m Semi-Finals

In a world where the only currency that often matters is medals, it can be hard to gauge the success – or indeed failure – of a team based on 10th- or 12th-place finishes. But for a nation like Ireland, one of 190-odd that took part in the World Athletics Championships in Oregon over the past 10 days, that’s exactly what needs to be done.

Because with Thomas Barr below his best, an Achilles injury on the build-up costing him five weeks of training, Ireland was never going to walk away from Eugene with some shiny excess baggage.