Swede success for Flanagan and Power

Swede success for Flanagan and Power

There was double delight for the Irish team at the European U23 Athletics Championships with Eilish Flanagan (Carmen Runners) winning silver in the women’s 3,000m steeplechase and Nadia Power (Templeogue) bagging a brilliant bronze in the women’s 800m in Gavle, Sweden.

The evening session on day three of the championships wasn’t without drama. Nadia Power battled to a brilliant bronze in a tactical 800m in 2:06.68. She was then disqualified for a supposed obstruction, but it was successfully appealed by Team Operations Manager Richard Rodgers along with high performance manager Paul McNamara.

Straight after the women’s 800m final, came the women’s 3,000m steeplechase final. Eilish Flanagan came into the final hoping for a top five finish but came away with a brilliant silver medal in her first major track championship in a new personal best of 9:51.72.

This magnificent double medal haul brings Ireland’s count to 8 at this championship since it was started in 1997. Ireland hadn’t won a medal here since 2011.

Sharlene Mawdsley (Newport) had a gutsy run from lane 1 to finish 7th in 53.57 seconds. In the men’s 5,000m final Fearghal Curtin (Youghal) was 17th in 14:39.50, Michael Power (West Waterford) was 18th in 14:40.59 and Pierre Murchan (DCH) was 21st in 15:00.23.

Mark Smyth (Raheny Shamrock) finished 8 in his 200m semi-final in 21.71.

Earlier in the day, Donagh Mahon (Gowran) had a best of 2.02m in high jump qualification while Eoin Sheridan (North Westmeath) had a best of 51.38m to finish 19th overall.

The men’s 4x400m relay team of Cathal Crosbie (Ennis Track), Craig Newell (Ballymena & Antrim), Shane Irwin (Finn Valley) and Chris O’Donnell (North Sligo) were 10th overall in 3:09.02 – just missing out on the final by .4 of a second.  

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