Paul Hession (Athenry AC) is through to the final of the 200 metres at the European Athletics Championships in Barcelona. The Galway athlete finished fourth in the first semi final in a time to 20.67 seconds which was slightly faster than his 20.69 in the heats earlier this morning. His semi final was won by Saidy Ndure in 20.50. The 200m final will be held on Friday evening.
Ailis Mcsweeney (Leevale AC) performed well in the semi finals of the 100m. The newly crowned Irish record holder just missed out on a place in the Women’s 100m final by .01 of a second . The Cork flyer got off to a great start in the second semi-final but she did not have the speed to hold her position over the final 50m. She recorded a time of 11.32.
Alistair Cragg has qualified for the final of the 5000m after finishing in 6th position in the first heat. Cragg positioned himself well throughout the race but dropped off the pace nearing the end. Cragg secured a qualifying position as a fastest loser with a time of 13:37.56. Mark Christie (Mullingar Harriers AC) faced a difficult challenge to qualify in heat 2 of the 5000m. Christie looked in contention early in the race but dropped off the pace to finish 11th in 14:12.68 which was off his best time of 13:37.36.
David McCarthy (Le Cheile AC) missed out on a place in the final of the Men’s 800 metres. McCarthy finished 6th in his semi in a time of 1:49:14.