NI Athletes at European Championships
The 21st European Athletics Championships are now underway in Helsinki, Finland.
Women's 1500m Heats Results Link
Ciara Mageean (City of Lisburn AC) and Orla Drumm (Doneen AC) were both disappointed not to make the women’s 1500m final. Mageean finished 12th in the first semi final in a time of 4.19.23, while Drumm suffered the same fate also finishing 12th in her semi-final.
Mageean was with the main pack until the bell; however when the leaders started to kick for home, Mageean had no response and faded on the last lap. This will come as a great disappointment for the highly talented Mageean, as she has struggled to replicate the form which saw her run a personal best of 4.07.45 last year.
Men's 110m Hurdles
Ben Reynolds (North Down AC) was due to compete in the men’s 110m hurdles heats. However Reynolds had to withdraw from the race due to a pelvis injury. The withdrawal was pre-cautionary and Reynolds hopes to be back competing in the near future.
Women's 200m Heats- Results Link
Amy Foster (City of Lisburn) was placed in a tough Heat in the 200m rounds this morning and finished 6th in a time of 24.04 seconds. Her heat was won by Ryemyen of Ukraine in 22.77 seconds.
"Not what I was hoping for and never really wanted to run over 24 seconds. It is disappointing but I was coming out here [Helsinki] for the 100m and the 200m was an extra to see where I was at with it- I've only ran one other 200m this year.
I will compete at the AAI Nationals next weekend over 100m only- I feel I have a good 100m big time to come"
Amy Foster Interview
Saturday, Morning, 30 June
12:10 1500m W R1 Ciara Mageean 10.10am local time
14:45 110m hurdles M R1 Ben Reynolds 12.15 local time
20:25 4x400m M R1 TBC
21:50 4x400m W R1 TBC
Men's 100m SemiFinal Results Link
Double paralympian champion Jason Smyth (City of Derry AC) finished 7th in the men’s 100m semi-final in a time of 10.52. Smyth got a much better start in the final and only lost out on fifth position on the dip finish.
Smyth said “I knew I would need to run a season best to make it into the final and that was the target. Unfortunately the two races didn’t come together so I am disappointed with that. I know from the training I have done that I am capable of a quicker time. I will be doing another race next week and then I have the Nationals so I hope to run faster there”
100m Heats: Results Link
Paralympic two time Gold medallist Jason Smyth (City of Derry) ran in Heat 2 of the 100m. He had a great start and finished in 4th place with 10.47 seconds to secure an automatic qualifier spot for the semi-finals later this evening. Rytis Sakalauskas from Lithuania won the heat in 10.23. Frenchman Lemaitre qualified with the fastest time of 10.14 seconds.
He said after the race: "Glad to get qualifying out of the way, hope to go quicker later on"
Women’s 100m Heats- Results Link
There was disappointment for Amy Foster (City of Lisburn) when she finished 7th in the 100m Heat 2 in a time of 11.58 seconds, not far off her seasons best of 11.50s. She does not progress to the semi- finals only missing out on qualification by .05 and will now concentrate on the 200m which starts on Friday.
Men's 400m Hurdles- Results Link
There were 6 heats in the Men's 400m Hurdles with Jason Harvey (Crusaders AC) in the last one in his first senior international competition. There was a false start by German athlete David Gollnow (DQ). Harvey finished 5th in 51.83 seconds and does not proceed to the semi finals.
He said on Twitter: "Really disappointing run, really should have capitalised on DQ. No excuses, thanks Irish Athletics for the experience"
You can follow the action in various ways:
Live on the European Athletics website
BBC Red Button & Online - Wednesday 27 June (15:50-18:45 BST), Thurusday 28 (15:15-18:00), Friday 29 (16:00-20:35) and Saturday 30 (17:00-20:35); BBC Two & Online: Sunday 1 July (14:00-18:00)
Daily reports will be available here on the Athletics NI website along with Twitter updates @AthleticsNI
