Two of the five Track and Field Athletes competed today at the Youth Olympic Games in the first day of competition.
Louise Shanahan (Leevale AC) was in the 800m heats today. Shanahan ran in heat one along with the German favourite Mareen Kalis. From the start Shanahan tried to assert her control at the front of the pack behind Kalis. The German showed her class running a personal best to finish in first place comfortably. Shanahan ran a composed race and had some energy left over to give a strong kick down the home straight to fend off Belgian athlete Lotte Scheldeman and claim second place in a time of 2.09.58 a season’s best performance. This qualifies her for the A final as one of the top 8 fastest times in the heats.
Eoin Sheridan (North Westmeath AC) also competed today in the Discus. His best throw of 53.63 put him into 12th place out of 16. There was a very strong field in the discus with Chinese athlete Yulong Cheng topping the qualification with a throw of 59.88.
Tomorrow sees Adam King (Iveragh AC) compete in the Hammer and Michaela Walshe (Swinford AC) compete in the Shot Putt.
