Updated at 18.39
THERE WAS FURTHER success for Ireland at the European Championships in Zurich today, as Fionnuala Britton earned a top-ten finish in her maiden marathon, while the women’s 4×100 and men’s 4×400 relay both broke national records.
The women’s team finished seventh, ultimately failing to reach the final as a result, while the men’s team did secure a final place after coming third.
Earlier, Ireland’s Fionnuala Britton finished 10th with a time of 2:31:46 at the European Marathon Championships.
Brian Gregan (Clonliffe Harriers AC), Brian Murphy (Crusaders AC), Richard Morrissey (Crusaders AC) and Thomas Barr (Ferrybank AC) finished with a time of 3.03.57 to secure their place in tomorrow’s final.
Speaking after the race, Barr said: “It’s brilliant, we had heard that the girl’s had set a national record earlier on so that really spurred us on. We knew we had a really good team and if we gave it our all on the day we would break the national record. Can’t wait for the final now.”
Earlier, the women’s team of Amy Foster (City of Lisburn AC), Kelly Proper (Ferrybank AC), Sarah Lavin (UCD AC) and Phil Healy (Bandon AC), though they failed to reach the final, still also secured a national record of 43.84 seconds.
Speaking after the race, Healy commented: “We can’t ask for any more than that, we came out today and broke the national record, the changeovers were good, and the practicing we have been doing has been really good. We will plan for next year with the World Championships to look forward to.”
Can’t be any joy in that for either team.
There’s a great documentary called Next Goal Wins about that American Samoa team
Is that the documentary about an irish backpacker that ended up coaching them ?
Awesome documentary,they’re a seriously loveable team.
No, a MLS coach comes down from the US to train the team!
Yeah a Dutch lad and he’s mad as a bag of shpiders
Is there a lovable fat kid in it? Like in the movies?
No doubt we would scrapea 2-0 win and the result would be hailed as a success.
still ranked higher than Ireland
Not actually true as Micronesia isn’t an official FIFA qualifying country and the team was made up mainly of under-23 as it was an Olympic qualifier. The Australia vs American Samoa match is still the biggest win.
…should have read the article first. My bad… Red thumbs welcome.
What a laugh…..qualification for the Olympics.