Nicola Tuthill secured her spot in tomorrow evening’s hammer final at the European Athletics U23 Championships with an effort of 71.33m in the second round.
The mark is Tuthill’s second furthest throw ever, making her the top qualifier across the two groups.
The 21-year-old will be a firm favourite to make the podium in the final which takes place on Friday evening at 7:00pm Irish time.
In the first final of the championships, Abdel Laadjel finished eighth in the men’s 10000m in a time of 29:14.64. The Donore Harriers athlete started conservatively before moving steadily through the field, taking the lead with three and a half laps left to run.
In what turned into a last-lap burn-up, Laadjel tried to stay with the pace but slipped into eighth position with 200 metres to go. Joel Ibler Lilleso of Denmark eventually won the race by 0.4 of a second from Jonathan Grahn of Sweden.
Laadjel admits he is disappointed with his performance but said he couldn’t have done more.
“Probably made a few mistakes at the start and was probably too far back, but towards the end I did what I planned to do coming in. There was probably not much I could have given more,” Laadjel said.
The University of Oregon student reveals he will now be taking a break after a long year of training in a new setup.
“I’ll probably take a break now. It’s been a lot this year, a lot of change. A lot of change in training,” he added.
Niall Murphy battled the warm conditions to finish in 20th position in the same event in a time of 30:24.00.
Maeve O’Neill was very unlucky to miss out on the final in the women’s 800m, running a new personal best of 2:02.66 to finish third in heat two.
The Doheny AC athletes remained in a strong position for the entirety of the two-lap race, coming through on the inside in the last 100m, but was pipped on the line by Italian athlete Ngalula Gloria Kabangu for the final automatic spot.
In her debut race in the Irish singlet, Emma Moore had a consistent run in a tactical race to finish seventh in 2:05.32.
In the men’s 1500m Lughaidh Mallon just missed out on a place in the final. Mallon was tripped on more than one occasion in the cagey final heat and finished in fourth place in a time of 3:46.73.
Aoife O’Sullivan finished eighth in group B of the women’s high jump qualifying with a clearance of 1.77m.
At the start of the evening session, Adam Nolan finished in sixth position in heat four of the men’s 110m hurdles with a 14.18 clocking.
2023 European Junior semi-finalist Lucy-May Sleeman breezed through heat 2 of the women’s 100m, clocking 11.57 to secure a semi-final position in the evening session.
The Leevale athlete, going in lane seven, finished in eighth position in the semi-final, crossing the line in 11.77 seconds.
Sean Agiboboh also qualified for the semi-finals with a third-place finish and a 10.58 clocking in the heats but was forced to medically withdraw from the semi-final in the evening session.
In the men’s 400m hurdles European U18 silver medallist from 2022 Fintan Dewhirst sustained a quad issue on hurdle three, finishing seventh in his heat in a time of 56.24.
Tomorrow will see Eimear Maher run in the Irish vest for the first time on the track in the women’s 1500m and Anika Thompson will go in the final of the women’s 10000m.
There will also be three athletes making their bid for a final spot in the heats of the women’s steeplechase with Ava O’Connor leading the charge.
RESULTS/TIMETABLE- https://live.european-athletics.com/bergen-2025/timetable
Photo credits: Nicola Tuthill – European Athletics, all other pictures East Down Media Network.
