Thomas Barr Sets New Irish 400m Hurdles Record in Belgium
Thomas Barr set a new Irish Record in the 400m Hurdles of 49.61 breaking Tom McGuirk’s mark of 49.73 when finishing third at the IFAM International Flanders Meet in Oordegem Belgium today.
Tom McGuirk posted this message on the Athletics Ireland Facebook “Congratulations Thomas! It was a true honor and I was very proud to run for Ireland. I was blessed to travel the world and found life long friends in Nicky Sweeney and Neil Ryan. No doubt you will push that record much lower. I wish you the very best always!”
This follows on from the Waterford man’s impressive season opener at the Numur meet on Tuesday of 50.34. This time was also the qualification time of 50.15 for the European Track and Field Championships that take place in Zurich in August. Jason Harvey recorded a season’s best of 51.13 to finish sixth in the same race.
Indoor 800m record holder, Mark English made his outdoor season debut running 1.46.39 to win his race. Karl Griffin ran 1.49.67 just off his PB to go inside the World Junior B standard for a fourth time this year. In the women’s 800 Ciara Everard finished down the field with 2:07.13.
In the Men’s 100m Steven Colvert and Jason Smyth both recorded 10.58 with Colvert given the won on photo-finish. Colvert also won the 200m in 20.95 going to top of the Irish rankings. Phil Healy was the best of the Irish woman running 11.76 (+0.5), while Kelly Proper ran a solid 23.67 following on from her 23.60 earlier in the week to finish third. Sarah Lavin produced a Season’s Best of 13.45 for fourth in the 100m Hurdles into a -1.8m/s wind edging closer to European qualification time.
In the 3k steeplechase there was pb’s all round for the Irish with Kerry Harty finishing 5th in 9.52.94 and Sara Treacy 6th in 10.05.67 in the women’s race while Rory Chesser ran 8.47.31 in 11th place.
Elsewhere Ciaran O’Lionaird finished 11th in the International Mile in Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon producing a sub 4 minutes mile, running a season’s best of 3.57.99. Paul Robinson was on pace making duties at the meet.
Laura Reynolds competed in LA Croruna 20k Walk as part of the IAAF Race Walking challenge series clocking her second best time for the distance with 1:31:57
The full Irish Team for the European championships be announced on the 21st of July at a Press Conference after the National Track and Field Championships (19th/20th). There is an expectation that this team will be made up of over 25 athletes, making it one of the largest Irish teams ever to compete at the championships.