The sensational news that Fionnuala Britton is to make her marathon debut at the European Championships has to overshadow all other discussion of a championships that could be the best ever from an Irish point of view. 
From Herald 8 August 2014.
Britton’s main target for the games is the 10,000m on Tuesday evening after a busy opening day of competition.
First up of the Irish that day was supposed to be Zoe Brown in the women’s pole vault, who had improved her best to 4.45m last month and had hoped to make the final. Unfortunately, at the Commonwealth Games, where Brown was a genuine medal hope, she not only failed to make a mark in the dreadfully wet conditions but picked up an injury, which forced her to withdraw from the Irish team yesterday.
Other Irish in action on Tuesday morning are Amy Foster and Phil Healy 100m, Christine McMahon 400m hurdles, Brian Gregan and Richard Morrissey 400m and Sarah Lavin 100m hurdles.
Later in the day, Mark English, one of the team’s best hopes of a medal, lines out in the 800m heats. Favourite to take gold is Pierre-Ambroise Boss who set a new French record of 1:42.53 in Monaco last month. After him come ten other athletes who have broken 1 min 46 secs, among them English whose best time of 1:45.03 this season puts him at No 4.
Then it’s Britton’s turn in what looks like a very open 10,000m, with 37 athletes running under 33 minutes this season, led by Britain’s Julia Bleasdale with a time of 31:42.02.
On Wednesday morning, Thomas Barr goes in the 400m heats, with semi-finals later in the day. With his Irish record time of 48.90 secs ranking him third in Europe, he has a great chance, although there are a number of very fast men just marginally slower than him.
Kelly Proper sets out her stall on Thursday morning in the 200m heats and should progress at least to the semi-finals later in the day. Her time of 23.16 secs puts her 23rd in the rankings, with a number of athletes around the same mark.
Friday morning sees Ireland’s only current world champion Robert Heffernan attempting to win a European crown in the 50km walk. In recent weeks, Heffernan was upgraded to third place in the 20km walk from the 2010 Europeans, following the suspension of a Russian walker on doping charges. He will hope to pick up a medal on the day he wins it this time.
With the men’s 800m and 400m hurdles final taking place later in the day, the Irish team could be looking at three medals in one day, while also competing on Friday is the trio of 1500m runners – Ciaran O Lionaird, Paul Robinson and John Travers.
Then it’s the turn of Fionnuala Britton, backed up by Sarah Mulligan and Barbara Sanchez in the marathon on Saturday morning.
Cancel everything for the next week or so!
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