Silver for Nicola Tuthill at World University Games

SILVER: Nicola Tuthill has won a silver medal for Ireland at the World University Games in Bochum, Germany, the Cork thrower finishing runner-up in the women’s hammer on Sunday afternoon with a best of 69.98m. Pic: Shauna Clinton/Sportsfile

Nicola Tuthill has won a silver medal for Ireland at the World University Games in Bochum, Germany, the Cork thrower finishing runner-up in the women’s hammer on Sunday afternoon with a best of 69.98m.

It’s the second major medal in 10 days for the 21-year-old UCD student, who also won silver at the European U-23 Championships in Bergen, Norway.

The final was dominated by China’s Zhao Jie, who threw 72.80m to take gold, while Tuthill was over two metres clear of the bronze medallist, Sara Killinen of Finland (67.80m).

“I’m delighted, it’s my first medal on a world stage and to come off silver last week and get another one here is pretty special,” said Tuthill, who had struggled early in the final, with two throws of 66 metres and a foul. 

“It was a really stressful competition, to be honest. My first throws were some of the worst I had all year. Other than qualifying, my last five competitions have all been over 70 metres so it was bugging me a bit that I wasn’t getting up there.” 

However, Tuthill improved her best mark in each of the three rounds that followed, throwing 67.80m, 68.46 and finishing with 69.98m. Her Irish U-23 record is the 71.71m she threw in Finland last month.

Coupled with Kate O’Connor’s heptathlon gold, it rounds out another strong championships for the Irish, with Tuthill the first field eventer to win a medal at the event since Eileen O’Keefe in 2007, who also won silver in the hammer.

“There’s a lot of hours spent training and my coach Killian [Barry] was there, my parents are there, and there are so many people, like my sponsors at home, who helped me get here,” said Tuthill. 

“It meant a lot to get it.” 

She will now turn her attention to September’s World Championships in Tokyo and while Tuthill has not hit the automatic qualifying standard of 74.00m, she will secure a spot via her world ranking, currently sitting 22nd in the quota with 36 places available.

Elsewhere, Laura Nicholson finished eighth in the women’s 1500m final, clocking 4:22.32, while Ava O’Connor came home ninth in the 3000m steeplechase in 9:51.07. Oisín Lane finished 11th in the 20km race walk, clocking a personal best of 1:23.06.