Irish U18 team on fire in Franconville

POSTED:

Away from Tokyo, there were some stunning performances from the next generation of Irish athletics stars at the Franconville U18 Meet which took place in France over the weekend.

A strong team of 23 athletes took to competitive action and gained valuable experience competing on the international stage in a year where the European U18 Championships, which were set to take place at the end of August, were cancelled.

European U20 gold medallist Nicholas Griggs (Mid-Ulster AC) picked up where he left off two weeks previous in running a National Youth Record and European Youth Lead of 8:07.46 to win the 3000m at the French meet.

16-year-old Griggs was in total control from the gun and took the gold medal in the most impressive of fashion.

Doheny AC’s Maeve O’Neill was another to perform superbly at the European U20 Championships and again backed up her European performance with a winning personal best time of 2:06.38 pb which she executed liked a seasoned international athlete.

O’Neill had set her previous PB at the recent European Championships (2.07.91) and backing that up with another lifetime best was an incredible feat.

Una Brice (Leevale AC) had set a 3.62m National Youth Pole Vault Record last weekend, and the Leevale star followed that up by posting a new National Youth Record of 3.75m in Franconville to claim a second-place finish having been ranked 7th starting.

It proved a hugely successful event across the board for Irish athletes with;

  • 9 Personal Bests
  • 2 National Youth records
  • 1 European Lead
  • 2 x Gold Medals (Maeve O’Neill 800m, Nicholas Griggs 3,000m)
  • 3 x Silver Medals (Anna Gavigan 43.33m Discus, Lucy May Sleeman 11.96 100m)
  • 4 x Bronze Medals (Adrienne Gallen 57.63m Hammer, Aisling Lane 16:07:02 3k Walk, Geooffray Joy O’Regan 2.06m High Jump, Jake O’Brien 23:09 5K Walk)

Congratulations to all athletes and coaches and special thanks to the support teams who travelled with the squad.

Results: Click HERE

Full Squad : Click HERE

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