Brian Gregan
After the opening day of competition in Santry, the young Irish team lies sixth on the table at the European Athletics Team Championships 1st League on a day dominated by the Czech Republic and by the spectacularly varied weather.
Zuzana Hejnova led the way for the Czechs when she won the flat 400m instead of her usual 400m hurdles in 51.90. In the B race, Ireland’s Sinead Denny hung on bravely for a creditable second place.
Denisa Rosolova nailed the 400m hurdles clocking 55.34 with Romania’s Angela Morosanu second in 56.67 and Ireland’s Jessie Barr a fighting third.
Veteran high jumper Jaroslav Baba soared over 2.20m on his first attempt for the Czechs; Mihai Donisan of Romania cleared the same height on his second attempt, with both men failing at 2.25.
The women’s pole vault turned into a marathon, not helped by the gusting winds and later, the arrival of the javelin women. European champion Jirina Svobodova , another Czech, came in at 4.15m and then cleared both 4.30 and 4.40m on her first attempts. Ireland’s Tori Pena also waited until the bar was raised to 4.15 before starting her competition. She then cleared 4.30 for second place and made three attempts at 4.40.
Biggest cheers of the day went to local hero Brian Gregan who won the 400m comfortably in 46.32 secs, beating Belgium’s Seppe Thijs, who had come in for the injured Kevin Borlee.
“The main thing was the win,” said Gregan, who trains at Santry. “Coming down the home straight I may as well have been walking, but I train here and I’m used to it.”
Other spirited performances from the Irish team included a second place for the women’s 4x100m team and fourth places for Jason Harvey in the 400m hurdles, Shane Quinn in the 5000m, and Laura Crowe in the 3000m, a distance she was running for the first time. Claire Fitzgerald was fifth in the discus (won by Romanian veteran Nicoleta Grasu), as was Eoin Everard in the 1500m, who lost a place in the race for the line.
Bulgaria’s European 100m champion Ivet Lalova had perhaps the worst luck of all when it came to the conditions, but despite a headwind of -5.5 won the 100m in 11.79. In the men’s 100m, Churandy Martina of the Netherlands lived up to his favourite’s billing by winning in 10.46 (-3.6) ahead of the promising Denis Dimitrov of Bulgaria and the fast finishing Jason Smyth of Ireland. The top three teams in Dublin win promotion to the Super League next year. Pics at www.lindie.zenfolio.com
* In Belgium, Keith Whyte of Ennis Track Club set a new Irish 100km record of 7 hrs 3 mins.
* Keep your ears open this week for good news about the Dublin Marathon!
European Team Championships 1st League – Day 1 (Corrected)
Points table – 1 Czech Republic 195, 2 Sweden 163.5, 3 Romania 163, 4 Portugal 148.5, 5 Netherlands 146.5, 6 Ireland 138, 7 Finland 130, 8 Bulgaria 114, 9 Belgium 112.5, 10 Hungary 109, 11 Estonia 108, 12 Switzerland 101.
Women – 100m – Race A (-5.5): 1 Ivet Lalova (BUL) 11.79, 2 Katerina Cechova (CZE) 11.85, 3 Irene Ekelund (SWE) 11.35…5 Amy Foster (IRL) 11.96. Race B (-5.4): 1 Kadene Vassell (NED 12.08, 2 Sonia Travered (POR) 12.16, 3 Mujinga Kambundji (SUI) 11.68. 400m: – Race A: 1 Zuzan Hejnova (CZE) 51.90, 2 Adelina Pastor (ROU) 52.64, 3 Moa Hjelmer (SWE) 52.89. Race B: 1 Maris Magi (EST) 53.47, 2 Sinead Denny (IRL) 54.74, 3 Natalia Zsigovics (HUN) 54.79. 800m: 1 Mirela Lavric (ROU) 2:03.44, 2 Lenka Masna (CZE) 2:03.53, 3 Selina Buchel (SUI) 2:03.80…5 Rose-Anne Galligan (IRL) 2:04.26. 3000m: 1 Susan Kuijken (NED) 9:07.04, 2 Almensch Belete (BEL) 9:11.61, 3 Charlotta Fougberg (SWE) 9:17.83, 4 Laura Crowe (IRL) 9:19.04. 400m H: Race A: 1 Denisa Rosolova (CZE) 55.34, 2 Angela Morosanu (ROU) 56.67,3 Jessie Barr (IRL) 57.50. 3000m steeplechase: 1 Sandra Eriksson (FIN) 9:47.76, 2 Silvia Danekova (BUL) 9:47.96, 3 Helen Hofstede (NED) 9:52.82….9 Michelle Finn (IRL) 10:07.30. Triple jump: 1 Gabriela Petrova (BUL) 13.55, 2 Elina Torro (FIN) 13.52, 3 Susana Costa (POR) 13.37…11 Caoimhe King (IRL) 12.42. Pole vault: 1 Jirina Svobodova (CZE) 4.40, 2 Tori Pena (IRL) 4.30, 3 Minna Nikkanen (FIN) 4.30. Discus: 1 Nicoleta Grasu (ROU) 57.34, 2 Anita Marton (HUN) 56.43, 3 Sofia Larsson (SWE) 55.96…5 Claire Fitzgerald (IRL) 50.93. Javelin: 1 Oona Sormumen (FIN) 56.04, 2 Eliza Toader (ROU) 55.89, 3 Silvia Cruz (POR) 53.11….7 Anita Fitzgibbon 48.43. 4x100m: 1 Czech Republic 44.20, 2 Ireland 44.82, 3 Portugal 45.05.
Men – 100m – Race A: Churandy Martina NED) 10.46, 2 Denis Dmitrov (BUL) 10.76, 3 Jason Smyth (IRL) 10.78. Race B: 1 Alex Wilson (SUI) 10.94, 2 Eetu Rantala (FIN) 11.04; 3 Richard Pulst (EST) 11.07. 400m: 1 Brian Gregan (Ireland) 46.32, 2 Liemarvin Bonevacia (NED) 47.38, 3 Tibor Kasa (HUN) 47.71. 1500m: 1 Pieter-Jan Hannes (BEL) 3:45.05, 2 Ioan Zaizan (ROU)3:46.33, 3 Helio Gomes (POR) 3:46.96…5 Eoin Everard 3:47.92. 5000m: 1 Bashir Abdi (BEL) 14:52.78, 2 Tiidrek Nurme (EST) 14:53.53, 3 Nicolae Alexandru Soare (ROU) 14:11.85, 4 Shane Quinn (IRL) 14:56.09. 400m H – A: 1 Rasmus Magi (EST) 49.51, 2 Tibor Koroknai (HUN) 51.10, 3 Vaclav Barak (CZE) 49.95, 4 Jason Harvey (IRL) 51.86. B: 1 Niclas Akerstrom (SWE) 51.42, 2 Nils Duerinck (BEL) 52.00, 3 Jonathan Puemi (SUI) 52.08. Long jump: 1 Eero Haapal (FIN) 7.96, 2 Michel Torneus (SWE) 7.95, 3 Denis Eradiri (BUL) 7.84… 11 David Quilligan (IRL) 7.12. High jump: 1 Jaroslav Baba (CZE) 2.20, 2 Mihai Donisan (ROU) 2.20, 3 Jussi Viita (FIN) 2.15…=9 Simon Phelan (IRL) 2.05. Shot: 1 Ladislav Prail (CZE) 20.62, 2 Georgi Ivanov (BUL) 20.53, 3 Marco Fortes (POR) 20.04…11 Colin Quirke (IRL) 15.48 Hammer: 1 Krisztian Pars (HUN) 76.56, 2 Luka Melich (CZE) 75.02, 3 Tuomas Seppanen (FIN) 68.81…10 Padraig White (IRL) 58.91. 4x100m: 1 Netherlands 39.14, 2 Sweden 39.55, 3 Portugal 39.89…Ireland disq.
Comments are closed.