Ninth place for Bandon's Nicola Tuthill in the women's hammer throw final

NINTH PLACE: Nicola Tuthill finished ninth in the final of the women’s hammer at the European Championships in Rome last night, the 20-year-old Bandon athlete producing a best of 69.09m in her opening three throws, with only the top eight given another three throws. Pic: ©INPHO/Morgan Treacy

Nicola Tuthill finished ninth in the final of the women’s hammer at the European Championships in Rome last night, the 20-year-old Bandon athlete producing a best of 69.09m in her opening three throws, with only the top eight given another three throws.

“I’m really happy to have placed ninth, I wasn’t far off my PB but for my first senior international, I can’t ask for much more,” she said. “It’s nice to come out and wear the green singlet again and perform close to my best.” 

Earlier in the day, Andrew Coscoran avoided some late-race carnage in the heats of the men’s 1500m to advance to tomorrow night’s final, the Balbriggan man finishing fifth in 3:38.52. It was a run that salvaged something from an otherwise bad morning for the Irish, with Phil Healy, Nick Griggs, Louise Shanahan and Thomas Barr all eliminated from their events.

Coscoran surged to the front approaching the bell, a move which helped him avoid disaster as five athletes crashed to the track – all of whom were later reinstated into the final. 

“I had it in my head that if it was slower, it was nice to be in front,” said Coscoran. “The opportunity presented itself so I took it. I was just trying to stay out of trouble and thankfully I did – I must have made the move at the right time.” 

Looking ahead to the final, he said: “The only mentality going in is to be in the moment, run the race that presents itself in front of you, don’t force anything and if an opportunity arises, take it. The fitness is there. I’ll go with the flow, close fast and try to put myself in good positions.” 

Barr went into the 400m hurdles semi-final knowing he’d need a big run to advance and the 31-year-old wasn’t quite able to produce it, finishing third in 49.61. Try as he might, he couldn’t close down Nick Smidt of the Netherlands, the runner-up, to nail one of two automatic qualifying spots, coming up short by just four hundredths of a second.

“To be honest, it felt harder than yesterday, even though the time was a little bit slower, so maybe the body wasn’t as fresh as I would have liked,” he said. 

“I’m disappointed I missed that Olympic qualification (48.70), but I do have two more races lined up for the end of next week to try and knock that out of the park. Even still, it’s been an amazing championships.” 

Healy was below her best in the 200m heats, clocking 23.51 to finish fifth from a difficult inner lane draw. “It is a little disappointing, I definitely wanted to run quicker than 23.5 – I know I’m in better shape than that,” she said. 

“The girls got away from me a bit in that first 50 and that’s major championships; you can’t be doing those kinds of things.” 

Rising star Nick Griggs simply didn’t have the gears to contend with Europe’s best seniors when the pace ramped up in the last lap of his 1500m heat, the 19-year-old coming home a detached 14th in 3:46.66. 

“There’s no sugar coating it, I’m just not good enough to compete with these guys yet,” he said. “I just didn’t have the legs in the last lap.” Shanahan was well off the pace in her heat of the women’s 800m, the Leevale athlete coming home seventh in 2:04.81. 

“I’ve had probably the best winter of training, I haven’t been injured, I haven’t been sick,” she said. “I just can’t seem to get it to click on race day which is incredibly frustrating.”