Nick Griggs wins Ireland's third medal at European U23 Championships

THREE OF A KIND: Nick Griggs has won a third medal for Ireland at the European U-23 Championships in Bergen, Norway. Pic: ©INPHO/Morgan Treacy.

Nick Griggs has won a third medal for Ireland at the European U-23 Championships in Bergen, Norway, the 20-year-old Tyrone athlete claiming silver over 5000m on Saturday evening in 13:45.80.

On Friday, Anika Thompson struck gold for Ireland over 10,000m and Nicola Tuthill added silver in the hammer throw.

Having won silver and gold at European U-20 level in the past, Griggs was a marked man as he lined up for the 5000m final and he took the pace out from the gun, passing 3000m in 8:28.

Having missed several months of training earlier in the year due to an infection in his knee, Griggs’ bounced back to form in impressive fashion last month with a 3:55 mile in Belfast before lowering the Irish U-23 record to 3:52.42 in Dublin last week. In Bergen, he wanted to make it a stern test for his rivals.

“We walked out the first few hundred so I was like, ‘let me just take this out,’” he said.

“I was risking losing the medal to go and get to win, but I wanted to do that.” Griggs was the fastest Irish U-20 athlete in history at 1500m, the mile, 3000m and 5000m and he currently holds all the Irish U-23 records over the same distances.

While he built a short lead early in the 5000m final, his rivals were keen not to give too much leeway, with the overwhelming favourite, Dutch star Niels Laros, towing them back to catch Griggs.

Laros recently ran a 3:45 mile to win at the Eugene Diamond League and with wheels like that, the gold was all but secured once he took the lead with a lap to run, winding the pace up and unleashing a 12.1-second last 100m to win in 13:44.74.

Griggs utilised his vast range of gears to hold off a large chasing pack to take silver, with Will Barnicoat – who had beaten Griggs to U-23 gold at the European Cross Country last December – taking bronze with 13:46.11.

“I’ve got mixed feelings,” said Griggs. “After the year I had, to come out and get silver is not bad. I’ve only been doing sessions for probably two months.

"I’m still early in my season, and hopefully there’s a lot more to come in August and September.”