Irish shine in Italian heat
The Irish team impressed on the first morning of competition in hot conditions at the European U20 Athletics Championships in Grosseto, Italy (July 20).
Niamh O’Connor (Celbridge) was up in the first event of the day finishing 18th in the 10,000m race walk in 53:36.84.
Up next were the multi-event stars in the heptathlon with Elizabeth Morland (Cushinstown) second overall in the 100m hurdles with 13.94 seconds while Kate O’Connor (Dundalk St Gerard’s) clocked 15.06.
In the high jump Morland cleared 1.75m with O’Connor getting a clutch jump on 1.78m on her third attempt for a new personal best. After two events Morland is sixth on 1,903 points with O'Connor 12th on 1,787.
The first four in each heat of the women’s 100m automatically advanced to the semi-finals. Unfortunately Janine Boyle (Finn Valley) finished fifth in heat one of the 100m in 12.18 and missed out on qualification by a photo finish.
It was clear cut for Ciara Neville (Emerald) and Gina Akpe-Moses (Blackrock-Louth) in heat 2 and 3 of 100m qualification. Neville finished second in heat 2 in 11.73 while Akpe-Moses won heat 3 in 11.69.
In the women’s 400m heats Mollie O’Reilly (DSD) just missed out on a place in the next round by two hundredths of second with a season’s best of 54.96.
Christopher O’Donnell (North Sligo) felt at home in the heat and was pleased with his win in heat 4 with 47.45.
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