No joy for Irish in 1500m heats
Andrew Coscoran of Team Ireland in action during the men's 1500m Round 1 at the Stade de France during the 2024 Paris Summer Olympic Games in Paris, France. Photo by Sam Barnes/Sportsfile
It was a disappointing start for the Irish athletics team on the opening morning of action at the Stade de France today, with Cathal Doyle, Luke McCann and Andrew Coscoran all falling short of qualification for the 1500m semi-finals.
Doyle was first up and on his Olympic debut, he got a baptism of fire against the world’s best, getting shuffled back in the pack on the third lap and hitting the bell 14th of 15 athletes at a time when the gears were shifting fast up front. He ran into all kinds of traffic as he tried to close down on the leaders and secure a top-six finish to advance, chopping his stride on several occasions. The Dubliner had a typically strong finish and clawed his way up to ninth place, in 3:37.82, the race won by world champion Josh Kerr of Britain in 3:35.83.
It was a similar story for fellow Dubliner Luke McCann in the next heat. He lost crucial ground on the second last lap and while he showed an impressive change of pace in the last 200m, it was too late to snatch a top-six spot, McCann coming home eighth in 3:35.73 with Ethiopia’s Ermias Girma taking victory in 3:35.21.
Irish record holder Andrew Coscoran was in the third heat and the Balbriggan man turned in an off-colour performance, struggling to maintain contact on the third lap and dropped on the final lap, coming home 15th and last in 3:42.07. Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen coasted through in third place with Stefan Nillessen of the Netherlands winning in 3:36.77.
However, it’s not the end of the road for all three, with all non-qualifiers going into the repechage tomorrow evening, a new addition at these championships for flat events between 200m and 1500m. The top three in each of those races will advance to the semi-finals.
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