17-year-old girl from Finland runs 2:33 marathon...

Last weekend, 17 year old Alisa Vainio from Finland ran an amazing time of 2:33 for her first marathon. Not only was it her first ever marathon but it was the sixth fastest time in Finnish history. Results

The time is inside the 2:36 qualifying standard for the 2016 Olympics in Rio but she can't go because she is too young! According to International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) rules, both male and female runners must be born on or before 1996 to qualify. 17 year old Vainio was born in 1997. The purpose of the age limit is to protect young athletes.

Here are some of her other race times....
Event    Result    Venue    Date
800m    2:16.65    Lappeenranta (FIN)    04.06.2014
1500m    4:39.49    Kouvola (FIN)    10.07.2014
3000m    9:28.48    Savonlinna (FIN)    16.08.2015
5000m    16:11.87    Pori (FIN)    31.07.2015
10,000m    32:58.17    Pori (FIN)    02.08.2015
3000mSC    10:02.45    Espoo (FIN)    30.08.2015
Marathon    2:33:24    Lappeenranta (FIN)    19.09.2015

Whatever about the wisdom of having someone so young run marathons, it's an amazing time for a 17 year old teenager.

Paul Robinson just misses out on a podium finish at the European U23 Athletic Championships...

In the final of the 1500m at the European U23 Athletic Championships in Tampere, Finland, Ireland's Paul Robinson just finished outside of the medals in 4th place. In what was a very physical race, the St.Coca's AC athlete was passed in the last 50 metres to finish in 3:45.12.

Paul had run 3:44.73 in the qualifying race for the final and his PB over the distance is 3:37.91.

Irish hurdler Thomas Barr breaks 50 seconds for the first time...

At the qualifying rounds of the 400m hurdles at the European U23 Track and Field Championships in Tampere, Finland, Thomas Barr finished in a time of 49.78 seconds, breaking the 50 second barrier for the first time ever. This probably shouldn't come as any great suprise as the 21 year old Ferrybank AC athlete ran 50.00 recently at the Cork City Sports despite making a heavy contact with the last hurdle.

While Thomas remains the second fastest Irish 400m hurdler of all time, it surely is only a matter of time before he sets a new national senior record especially as he is only five one hundredths of a second off the record of 49.73 seconds.

All time Irish 400m Hurdles
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
3 50.27 Jason Harvey 09.08.91 3 Oordegem BEL 01.06.13
4 50.76 Brian Liddy 16.06.77 7 Gothenburg SWE 30.07.99
5 51.11 Ciaran Dunphy 15.11.64 1 Dublin IRL 30.06.85
6 51.23 Antoine Burke 20.07.75 4 Leiria POR 18.06.05
7 51.24 Tim Crowe 10.12.91 2 Ostrava CZE 14.07.11
8 51.33 David Keoghan 09.10.78 2 Dublin IRL 25.07.99
9 51.41 Paul Byrne 18.04.90 4 Dublin IRL 07.08.11
10 51.45 Stephen McDonnell 24.07.80 1 Dublin IRL 14.07.02

As you can see from the stats above, Thomas Barr was just 3 years old when the Irish record was set by Tom McGuirk back in 1996.

Update...In the final on Saturday, Thomas ran 50.14 seconds and finished in 8th place.