Paul Hession (Athenry AC) is through to the semi-finals of the 200 metres at the European Athletics Championships in Barcelona. The Athenry man finished second in his heat in a time to 20.69 seconds to finish behind Marlon Devonish of Great Britain. Hession looked strong around the bend and easily secured qualification.

Hession’s time was the fifth fastest inqualifying. His semi-final takes place at 6.55pm later this evening where he will face stiff competition from newly crowned European 100m champion Chistophe Lemaitre of France

UCD sprinter Steven Colvert (UCD AC) will not progress after running 21.14 to finish 7th in heat three. This time was outside of Colvert’s best of 20.90 which he ran recently to secure qualification for the championships.