EUROPEAN ATHLETICS U23 CHAMPIONSHIPS: DAY 0

LANE LEADS OUT TEAM IRELAND ON OPENING DAY

Oisin Lane (Mullingar Harriers AC) secured 14th place for Ireland in the 20km Race Walk at the European Athletics U23 Championships in Finland this afternoon (12th July).

Lane, who came into this week on the back of his impressive Championship Record at the National U23 Championships two weeks previous, battled on bravely in tough conditions to cross in a time of 1:29:11.

The Mullingar athlete settled nicely into a rhythm from the gun, utilising a recent ‘course recce’ to pick up valuable seconds on some of the technical corners over the opening 8k. 

Speaking after the race he said: “I went for it, I was hoping for top 6 and was feeling fine until 8k. After 8k it was about surviving and getting to the line.

The course was tough, but I’m not going to make excuses, we’ll go again”.

Men’s 20k Walk Result:

1. ESP Paul McGrath 1:21:03 PB                       

2. ITA Andrea Cosi 1:23:02

3. FIN Jerry Jokinen1:24:41 NU23R

A further ten Irish athletes are set to make their championships debuts tomorrow, starting with Adeyemi Talabi (Longford AC) in the heats of the 100m from 8.31am (Irish time).

All the action from Espoo is streamed live on All Athletics TV in partnership with RTE.

• Day 0 Results HERE.

Irish in action: Day 1 - Times listed in Espoo local time ( - 2 Hours for Irish Time)

ENDS

• Event timetable here.
• Event website here.