Irish results on Day 2 of the European Championships...Thurs 28th June 2012

This is the second day of the European Track and Field Championships. Yesterday, no less than 7 men were disqualified from the 400m heats and the track has come in for some criticism. Apparently because of a football pitch in the centre of the stadium, the corners of the track are very tight and athletes sprinting are having some trouble staying in lane.

Pole Vault....Tori Pena goes out after failing at her third attempt at 4.40 metres having cleared 4.15, 4.25 and 4.35m earlier.

Jessie Barr runs a PB in the 400m hurdles...Qualifies for final as one of the fastest finishers!

Stephanie Reilly (Sli Cualann AC) ran a seasons best time of 9:44.15 in the second semi-finals of the womens 3000m steeplechase. She goes through to the final as one of the fastest finishers. Great result!

19 year old Thomas Barr ran a seasons best time of 50.22 seconds in the first of three semi-final races. Unfortunately, it's wasn't fast enough to go through to the final.

Brian Gregan qualifies for the final by coming second in his semi-final heat of the mens 400m! His time of 45.76 seconds was just slower than his PB time yesterday of 45.63 in the heats.


That concludes another day of athletics from Helsinki. Star performance of the day was yet again from Brian Gregan of Clonliffe Harriers AC. After finishing second in his semi-final heat of the mens 400m, he must have a real prospect of getting into the medals. Jessie Barr continued her fine form by qualifying for womens 400m hurdles. Her chances of getting in the medals are remote but getting into a final with the best runners in rest is a success in itself. After running 55.93 seconds, her real target will be to hit the Olympic qualifying standard of 55.50 in the final. Stephanie Reilly was another Irish Athlete who had a great day after finishing sixth in the womens 3000m steeplechase semi-final and goes through to the final.

Amongst the Irish athletes who went out of the competition today were Thomas Barr. At only just 19 years old, it was a real achievement for him to reach a European 400m hurdles semi-final. After finished in fifth place with a season’s best time of 50.22, his time was the second quickest time of his career, second only to the national junior record of 50.05, which he set at the Woodie’s DIY Irish Senior Track and Field Championships last year.

Also bowing out in the early stages was US based Tori-Pena (Finn Valley AC) in the women’s pole vault. She cleared some of the earlier heights but unfortunately had three failures at 4.40m, a height that would have got her into the final.