EUROPEAN ATHLETICS U23 CHAMPIONSHIPS: DAY 3 MORNING SESSION

RECORD BREAKING MORNING FOR TEAM IRELAND AT EUROPEAN ATHLETICS U23 CHAMPIONSHIPS

 Team Ireland enjoyed a superb opening session on day 3 of the European Athletics U23 Championships in Espoo this morning, with Sarah Healy (1500m), Sophie O’Sullivan (1500m), and Ruby Millet (Long Jump) all safely securing their passage through to tomorrow’s finals, while the men’s 4x100m and 4x400m relays teams also secured their places in the relay finals courtesy of two new Irish U23 National Records.

O’Sullivan was first to qualify for the 1500m medal race, winning her heat impressively in 4:18:25. Healy followed up shortly after, taking control of her heat with two laps to go to cross in a winning time of 4:16:58.

The Irish duo, who are ranked number one and two, are likely to face a stiff challenge tomorrow from Klaudia Kazimierska 4:16:20 (POL) and Sarah Calvert 4:16:50 (GB) who posted the two fastest times in this morning’s qualifying round. Tomorrow’s 1500m final is set for 4.25pm Irish time.

The quartet of Gabriel Kehinde, Runo Ayavoro, Colin Doyle, and Israel Olatunde clocked a new National U23 4x100m record (39.52) on their way to progressing to this evening’s final set for 2.50pm Irish time. A series of ultra efficient handovers saw the team set up Olatunde for a winning run for home and an automatic place in this evening’s showdown.

Not to be outdone by their relay counterparts, the men’s 4x400m team of Andrew Egan, Callum Baird, Aaron Keane, and Jack Raftery followed the trend by smashing the Irish U23 record to book their place in tomorrow’s final (4.45pm Irish time) with a stunning 3:06:34.

Ruby Millet (St Abbans AC) posted an outdoor PB of 6.42m on her second jump to also advance from this morning’s qualifying round, a performance that will give her great confidence when she returns to the pit tomorrow at 4.35pm.

The steeplechasers led the charge for the Irish early in this morning’s session with James Dunne (Tullamore Harriers) finishing 10th in his heat (9:26.25) which was not enough to progress. Dunne endured an injury plagued start to the season and was happy with his progress in recent months. His teammate Sean McGinley (Finn Valley AC) was unfortunately forced to pull up during the opening laps of his respective heat due to illness.

This evening’s session will see the men’s 4x100m team first on track when they return for the relay final at 2.50pm Irish time. The team’s record time in this morning’s heats ranked as the 5th fastest in qualifying but a favourable lane draw could see them challenge today’s record once more.

Ava O’Connor will make her second appearance on the track for the 3,000m s/c final following her superb PB yesterday, while Anika Thompson (10,000m) and Colin Doyle (200m) will make their championship debuts.

Robert McDonnell unfortunately rolled his ankle warming up for the 100m and has not recovered sufficiently to take his place in the heats of the 200m.

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

• Day 3 Results HERE.

Irish in action: Day 3 - Times listed in Irish time:

ENDS

• Event timetable here.
• Event website here.