The final two Irish athletes were in action today Sunday in their respective finals on the final day of the 21st European Junior Championships in Tallinn, Estonia. First up was Ferrybanks AC’s Thomas Barr in the 400m Hurdles final.
Barr had broken the Irish junior record twice coming into the final in his heat and semi-final, and had improved his PB by over a second and a half over the course of these championships.
Drawn in the reasonably good lane 3, the 19 year old Barr gave it 100% in this afternoon’s final, but at the finish had to settle for 6th place, but in another excellent time of 51.02 seconds, which was the 3rd time the Waterford man has broken the old NJR at these championships.
Barr’s time of 50.74 run the semi is now the equal second fastest time by an Irish man over 400m H in history.
The Ferrybank athlete is without doubt a real genuine talent for the future, but today’s final may have been just a step too far for him at this time, after running such a fantastic opening two rounds.
The final was won by the pre-race favourite Varg Konigsmark of Germany, in an excellent championship record time of 49.70 (the only athlete to break 50 seconds), with the top five in the event also posting personal bests.
Next up for Ireland was our world junior silver medallist from last year, Ciara Mageean from the City of Lisburn club.
It’s arguably never easy to win a championship 1500 metres from the front, as the highly talented young Irish runner Mageean discovered to her disappointment this afternoon in Tallinn.
Mageean had bravely led every step of the way until the final 40 metres of the metric mile event, when she began to understandably tire.
In the final 30 metres, the 19 year old Mageean was passed by the tall Serb Amela Terzic, who came through with a smooth finishing kick to steal the gold medal in season’s best time of 4:15.40, and so completing a notable double, having also won the 3,000 m the previous day for Serbia.
Perhaps understandably, there were not many smiles from Mageean as she crossed the line in the silver medal position with season’s best of 4:16.82 – the same position she filled in the world juniors last year in 4:09.51.
But Mageean had taken the race to her worthy opponents from the gun – and nearly pulled off a front running gold medal.
Mageean’s fantastic silver medal though is the fourth for young Irish athletes in major championships during the current athletics season; going back to U23 Team Gold in December at the European cross-country, and then followed much more recently Brian Gregan’s brilliant silver over 400m in the European U23 championships, and Kate Veale’s magnificent gold in the 5000m Walk in the World Youths Championships.
After the race today, Mageean did not want to hide her apparent disappointment:
“I can’t say that I’m truly satisfied with my performance, since I went out to win the gold medal, but I didn’t achieve my goal. The seasonal best does not matter much because the gold was my goal here. The track was good and the crowd supportive.”
The winner Terzic of Serbia was in a happier mood. “The race went very well for me, and I could not be happier. I changed all the goals I set for myself this year, and this is just splendid.”
Mageean will take some satisfaction that she gave the final of the 1500m everything she had on the day, and together with her coach Eamon Christie, will be planning to improve her PB later in the season. This race experience will no doubt stand to the Lisburn AC athlete in the years ahead on the international stage.
Overall there were some excellent performances by Irish athletes at these 21st European Junior Championships.
Two athletes set PB’s (Barr & Mills), another a SB (Mageean), and from the team of 14 athletes, eight finished in the top 15 in their event, so a good team performance too.
The Irish Team will be returning home tomorrow Monday @ 12.05pm on SAS flight from Stockholm, Terminal 2. All media are invited to welcome Ciara and the rest of the team home from Tallinn.
The Irish Results today were:
Men’s 400m Hurdles Final
Rank Athlete Nation Reaction time Result
1 KÖNIGSMARK, Varg GER 0.311 49.70 CR
2 VANHAEREN, Stef BEL 0.144 50.01 PB
3 BENCOSME DE LEON, Jose Reynaldo ITA 0.192 50.30 PB
4 MÄGI, Rasmus EST 0.209 50.63 PB
5 YATO, Stephane FRA 0.161 50.75 PB
6 BARR, Thomas IRL 0.179 51.02
7 MÖRÖ, Oskari FIN 0.168 51.06
8 FRANZ, Felix GER 0.226 51.93
Women’s 1500m Final
Rank Athlete Nation Reaction time Result
1 TERZIC, Amela SRB 4:15.40 SB
2 MAGEEAN, Ciara IRL 4:16.82 SB
3 DOAGA, Ioana ROU 4:20.73
4 JÄSERT, Lisa GER 4:22.78
5 VANGANSBEKE, Zenobie BEL 4:24.21
6 NEUMEYER, Regina GER 4:24.75
7 OLLESCH, Lisa GER 4:25.43
8 BARR, Kajsa SWE 4:30.40
9 KYRYCHUK, Diana UKR 4:31.09
10 WALSH, Jennifer GBR 4:31.32
11 ALEXANDROVA, Dina RUS 4:34.87
KOSTER, Maureen NED DNF