Top Irish hurdler Thomas Barr wins race in Switzerland and sets a new national record

Thomas Barr from Ferrybank AC in Waterford is just 21 years old and is one of the top 400m hurdlers in the country. Over the last two years, he has been making steady progress with his times getting gradually faster.

In July of 2013, he broke the 50 minute barrier for the first time at the European Under 23 Track and Field Championships in Finland. His time on that occasion put him second on the Irish All Time list...
1 49.73 Tom McGuirk 03.02.71 5 San Jose USA 01.06.96
2 49.78 Thomas Barr 24.07.92 3 Tampere FIN 12.07.13

At the end of May 2014, Thomas broke the 18 year old record of Tom McGuirk when he ran 49.61.

On Saturday the 14th of June 2014 at the EAP meet in Geneva, Switzerland, Thomas put in an amazing finish to win the 400m hurdle race. Not only did he take a big slice off his own national record but he beat William Rhys the reigning European champion in the process.

1. 22 Barr Thomas 92 Ferrybank AC IRL 48.90
2. 291 Williams Rhys 84 Grande-Bretagne GBR 48.95
3. 142 Hussein Kariem 89 LC Zürich SUI 49.08
4. 155 Königsmark Varg 92 SC Magdeburg GER 49.41
5. 513 Le Roux Wouter 86 Afrique du Sud RSA 49.54
6. 98 Fleischhauer Georg 88 Dresdner Sportclub 1898 GER 50.37
7. 261 Sumner Ben 83 Grande-Bretagne GBR 50.37
8. 25 Bellaabouss Fadil 86 Montbéliard Belfort Athlétisme FRA 52.18

As you can see from the video, he was in about 5th place with 100m to go. In the end, it was a case that he just wanted to win more than the rest and gave it everything. It probably explains why he took he improved his own personal best time by so much.

Thomas is in a brown top in lane 5...