2020 Tokyo Olympics August 1st - Preview

POSTED:

Another feast of athletics awaits athletics fans on super Sunday with 3 Irish athletes back in action across the course of the day.

Michelle Finn (Leevale AC) is first of the Irish in action on Sunday, with Finn back for another bite of Olympic competition (competed in Rio 2016) in the heats of the 3000m SC at 1.40am.

Coached by Feidhlim Kelly, Finn comes here in flying form having produced her lifetime best at the Paavo Nurmi Games in Finland in June, taking nine seconds off her previous best to finish in 9:29.25 which secured her Olympic qualification.

The Leevale athlete’s best is less than a second off Roisin McGettigan’s long-standing Irish record of 9:28.29 set in 2007.

Eilish Flanagan (Carmen Runners AC) will also be in action in the heats of the 3000m SC (Heat 3 2.10am).

Flanagan enjoyed a great season at Adams State in the US, setting a new Northern Irish 3,000m steeplechase record of 9:40.68 in Eugene, Oregon which cut 1.93 seconds off the previous record set by Kerry O’Flaherty in 2015.

The Carmen Runners AC athlete has a habit of performing on the big occasion having won silver with the Irish U-23 team in the Euro Cross Country in 2019, the same year she won in the women’s 3,000m steeplechase at the European U-23 Athletics Championships in Sweden.

Thomas Barr (Ferrybank AC) goes in the 400m hurdles semi-final at 13.05pm. Semi-finals don’t get much tougher than this with Barr lining up in lane 6 with the world number 1 and 2 either side of him in Rai Benjamin (USA) and Karsten Warholm (NOR).

The bigger the occasion, the bigger the performance seems to be the rule of thumb for the Waterford athlete, and progress to back-to-back Olympic finals in this class of field will represent one of the biggest achievements of Barr’s illustrious career.

The first 2 will gain automatic qualification to the final on Tuesday, with the next fastest 2 qualifiers also making it through.

Live Results: Click HERE

Where you can watch: Click HERE

July 31st Report: Click HERE

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