from RTE sports Irish sprint star Paul Hession finished his season in style on Sunday by notching second place in the 200 metres at the IAAF World Athletics Finals in Stuttgart. Racing out of lane eight, Hession came into the final 50 metres in sixth place but he stormed home to finish just one-hundredth of a second behind race winner Stephane Buckland from Mauritius.
The Athenry man’s time of 20.58 seconds was relatively slow, but it was a solid effort given the chilly conditions that had enveloped the Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Only two men managed to clock a time under 20.60 and Hession’s performance was all the more noteworthy given that his personal best (20.30) ranked him seventh in the field.
Brendan Christian of Antigua led coming into the straight but he tied up and both Buckland and Hession beat him to the line.
The victory secured Buckland US$30,000, while Hession collected a cheque for US$20,000 for one of his best pay-days on the track.
He is pencilled in to race one more time this week in Poland but he has termed it nothing more than ‘a fun run’.
