'It was pretty solid evidence that I didn’t want to go back': Thomas Barr brings curtain down on athletics career

He has known for many months this day was coming, but after a career spent haring around the track, Barr came to it like a tortoise. 

Ireland’s Tom Barr in Rome. Pic: Morgan Treacy/Inpho

Now that it's over, his race finally run, there are many things he’ll miss about the sport. Chief among them? “The people, the craic, the trips away,” he says.

Thomas Barr will also miss the days when the 400m hurdles, that man-killer event, would just click together like flatpack furniture – a sweet, 48-second symphony of speed and strength and technical precision. But as he hangs up his spikes, ending his career at the age of 32, there are also some things he won’t miss.