Tough opening morning for the Irish athletics team 

All three will now go into the repechage tomorrow evening, a new addition at these championships for flat events between 200m and 1500m.

NINTH PLACE: Ireland’s Cathal Doyle after finishing 9th and will go into the 1500m repechage. Picture: ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne

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. All three will now face a final chance in tomorrow’s repechage.

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.