Nick Griggs finishes ninth in 3000m at World Indoor Championships
LEARNING CURVE: Nick Griggs after the men's 3000m final. Pic: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile
It can be a daunting thing, taking on the world’s best, and while Nick Griggs learned on Saturday night that he is not yet at their level, there was enough evidence in the 21-year-old’s first world final to show that he one day might be.
Griggs came home ninth in the 3000m at the World Indoor Championships in Torun, Poland, clocking 7:39.03, while his Irish teammate Andrew Coscoran had a race to forget, finishing 13th of the 15 athletes in 7:43.89.
Gold went to Britain’s Josh Kerr, the 2023 world 1500m champion who put on a tactical masterclass to outsmart chief rival and reigning Olympic and world champion Cole Hocker.
While Hocker loitered several metres behind, boxed in, as they entered the final lap, Kerr chose the opportune moment to strike for home, reaching the finish in 7:35.56, with Hocker finishing fast to take silver in 7:35.70, the Briton unveiling the same ‘night-night’ celebration that the US athlete did when beating him earlier in the season.
“At least come up with your own celebration,” said Hocker.
“I’ll remember that one though, for sure.” After a steady early pace, Griggs and Coscoran had both been in touch with the leaders, even if they were well down the field, until the gears really started to turn with two laps to run, but neither had the gears then to go with the men out front. Still, it was a decent showing for Griggs in his first world final.
“I just wasn’t close enough when the bell hit,” he said. “That’s my responsibility, especially indoors. I felt like there was a bit more there. Top-10 in the world, I don’t want to be too down, it’s an experience and something I can build on, 100 per cent.
“I didn’t feel that comfortable, (those) lads are just too good, I just have to accept that. But it’s just more fuel for me to come back in future years. It’s frustrating because it’s not a bad run, you’re just left wanting, and that can only be positive for me going forward. The indoor season was never going to be my peak this year.”
Elsewhere, Lauren Roy came home sixth in her semi-final of the women’s 60m, her time of 7.23 not enough to advance.
“There’s so much more to come,” said Roy, a student at Tarleton State University in Texas. “It was great, that race was definitely a lot better put together than the heat and I’m a lot more satisfied with it. I could go faster, but I’m delighted.”
Mark English faced heartbreak in the semi-finals of the men’s 800m, the 33-year-old leading with a lap to go but not having enough to secure one of the top-two qualifying spots, with victory going to Australia’s Peter Bol in 1:46.21 and English coming home fourth in 1:46.70.
The Irish team lodged an appeal after the race, looking for English to be advanced to the final due to an incident involving him and Japan’s Allon Tatsunami Clay on the second lap, but the Jury of Appeal rejected it.
English has made five senior finals in his career – all at European level – and won medals in all five, but falling short of a global senior level has been a continued source of frustration, and this may well have been his best chance.
Ciara Neville, meanwhile, was frustrated after falling short of her PB of 7.27 in the 60m heats, the Limerick woman clocking 7.31 to finish fourth and bow out. Maeve O’Neill made a bold bid to make the 800m final but in the end, the Cork woman came up short, finishing sixth in her semi-final in 2:02.46.
Kate O’Connor and Sarah Lavin will carry Ireland’s hopes on Sunday. O’Connor is looking to win a medal at her fifth straight championships while Lavin is hoping to reach her third world indoor final in the 60m hurdles.
World heptathlon champion Anna Hall is the heavy favourite for the women’s pentathlon and could well surpass 5000 points for the second time in her career, though O’Connor looks primed to get closer than ever before to the US superstar.
World Indoor Championships
Kate O’Connor: pentathlon 60m hurdles, 9.05am; high jump, 9.43am; shot put 12.21pm; long jump, 4.40pm; 800m, 7.03pm
Sarah Lavin, women’s 60m hurdles heats,11.55am; *semi-final, 5.51pm; *final, 6.38pm
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