ANDREW COSCORAN SURVIVED a messy semi-final on Monday morning to reach Wednesday night’s 1500m decider at the European Championships in Rome.
The Dubliner hit the front on the turn into the final lap moments before a mass entanglement floored four trailing competitors behind him.
Coscoran, who required a top-six finish to reach the final, went to the well in the final 100m to clinch fifth in 3:38.52.
“I was pretty comfortable, ticked the box today, job done,” Coscoran told RTÉ post-race.
“A lot of the races I’ve been in this year have been scrappy. You kind of get used to a lot of pushing and shoving. I knew I wanted to stay out of that if possible.
“The fitness is there. Now it’s time to show it off.”
In a separate heat within the same event, Tyrone native Nick Griggs didn’t manage to sustain his attack in a lower-tempo heat as he bowed out with a 14th-placed finish (3:46.66).
The contrast between Griggs’ more tactical semi and the speedier pace of Coscoran’s heat was stark; whereas Coscoran’s was won by Norwegian great 3:37.65 Jakob Ingebrigtsen, Griggs’ race was won by Britain’s Neil Gourley in 3:44.05.
Mixed-relay hero Thomas Barr was left disappointed, too, missing out on a place in 400m hurdles final in agonising circumstances.
Waterford’s Barr, who finished third by a hair in his semi-final (49.61), awaited to see if he would qualify among the best of the rest but ultimately missed out on a spot in the decider by four hundredths of a second.
Phil Healy failed to progress to the semis of the women’s 200m, finishing her heat in fifth place with a time of 23.51.
Healy’s fellow Cork woman Louise Shanahan found herself in a similar boat, her sixth-placed finish in an 800m heat (2:04:81) not enough to see her progress to Tuesday’s semis.
