Tide turns as three Irish advance from heats in Istanbul

2023 European Athletics Indoor Championships, Ataköy Athletics Arena, Istanbul, Turkey 4/3/2023

The tide began to turn for the Irish at the European Indoor Championships in Istanbul on Saturday morning as Darragh McElhinney, Sarah Lavin and Israel Olatunde all advanced through their respective heats.

For McElhinney, it would have taken a calamitous performance not to advance to the 3000m final, given he was drawn in the second heat, which was run at a pace that meant he only had to finish in the top nine (of 10 athletes). But the Cork native was nonetheless foot-perfect throughout, biding his time at the back of the field through the opening two kilometres before showing an impressive change of gears over the final lap to coast into the final in fourth place, clocking 7:51.11.