LEAP TO GLORY
Barr makes Irish history with bronze in Berlin
IT TOOK all of 48 seconds for Thomas Barr to end an 84-year wait and etch his name among the greats of Irish athletics as he became the first ever male sprinter to win a medal at the European Championships.
At the Olympic Stadium in Berlin last night, the 26-year-old defied the odds and the weight of history to boldly go where no other Irishman had before, coming home third in the men’s 400m hurdles final in 48.31 seconds.
In truth, he went to the line more in hope than expectation, even if in r ecent weeks
Barr had carried himself with the assurance of an athlete knowing something special might be on the cards.
‘If I had to I’d pull out of every other race to be at my best for World [championships] or Olympics,’ he said. ‘I love that [pressure] and I live for the championships. All day I was replaying this race through my head. At 3 or 4pm, an hour before I was due to go to the warm up track, I was like “let me go, let me at them, I’m ready to go.’”
Barr (below) came into the race with a season’s best of just 48.99, well off his record 47.97, and he knew he needed something close to that to even think about winning a medal in a field that was worthy of an Olympic final.
Drawn in lane eight, he knew he had to go out hard, to speed through the opening half-lap as world champion Karsten Warholm came bearing down on him.
That’s exactly what he did.
‘ I ’ d prepared f or Warholm coming up on my shoulder,’ he said. ‘I could see them coming into my peripheral vision.’
Off the last bend, Barr still had a metre to find on France’s Ludvy Va l i a n t , who held third behind Warholm and Olympic bronze medallist Yasmani Copello of Turkey. After missing his rehearsed stride pattern between the last two barriers – taking 15 steps instead of the planned 14 – Barr had to reach for the last with a desperate yearning, knowing a near-perfect leap was needed if he was to hoist himself into medal position. ‘I don’t analyse my competitors but I knew we were literally neck and neck coming up to hurdle eight and I was like “he’s mine, he’s not going to get this ahead of me”,’ said Barr. In the end, he didn’t, and over the final 50 metres Barr forged his way past the Frenchman, forcing himself onto the podium – the first major championship medal of Barr’s career, the first ever by an Irishman in a sprint event at the European Championships, which are now 84 years old. ‘I really can’t believe it,’ he said. ‘I knew it was going to take a 48-low to get near the medals, and it came together at just the right time.’ Barr was quick to pay tribute afterwards to coaches Hayley and Drew Harrison, who guide his career with such an expert hand at the University of Limerick. They had told him time and again in the weeks before that despite his average form over the summer things would click when it truly counted.
‘I always have faith in their programme, whether I’m injured or healthy they get me into the shape I’ve needed,’ he explained.
‘I’m just so thankful to all those who have helped make this happen.
The bronze medal made Barr just the 10th Irish athlete to ever win a medal at the European Championships.
On a glorious night for Irish athletics, there was one bitter aftertaste, with Leon Reid’s medal hopes crumbling in the final of the men’s 200m.
Drawn on the outside like Barr, Reid charged around the bend and turned for home in medal contention but had nothing left to give approaching the finish, fading to seventh in 20.37. The race was won by Turkey’s Ramil Guliyev in 19.76.
‘That just wasn’t good enough,’ said the 24- year- old. ‘I j ust couldn’t get anything back on the straight. But with Worlds next year, we’re just going to continue grow as a team.’
Elsewhere, there was no joy for former European medallist Mark English, who was knocked out of the 800m in his heat, or Zak Curran.
Ciara Mageean will get her championships under way today in the heats of the women’s 1500m and the 2016 bronze medallist will have to be on alert to move on to Sunday’s final, with only the top four set to automatically advance.