European Junior Championships - Tallinn

ecoli

Another exciting week with a strong team being sent to a major championships. The past 2 weeks have seen two global championship medalists, our first Youth Gold and our second slver u23 Euro medal ever. Here is the team for this week:

Ireland team:

100m: Joan Healy
400m: Joanna Mills
400mH: Thomas Barr
800m: Mark English
800m: Dean Cronin
1500m: Ciara Mageean
1500m: Liam Markham
10,000m: Liam Brady
10k Walk: Emma Prendiville
10k Walk: Maeve Curley
Hammer: Cara Kennedy
Hammer: Killian Barry
Hammer: Andrew Doyle
Hammer: Dempsey McGuigan
Discus: Marco Pons

Article on the EAA site regarding the team to:

http://www.european-athletics.org/21st-european-athletics-junior-championships/irish-team-announced-for-european-athletics-junior-championships.html

downthemiddle

A strong team with the possibility of 2/3 medals.

Dan man

After the excitement of the U-23s last weekend, these champs can't come soon enough for me. I wish them the best of luck, hoping for some inspiring performances.

ecoli

Dan man wrote: »

After the excitement of the U-23s last weekend, these champs can't come soon enough for me. I wish them the best of luck, hoping for some inspiring performances.

Spoiled for choice as the EYOF starts next week so 4 on the bounce:D

sleapy235

We've definitely won more than 2 Euro u23 medals ever...David McCarthy, Rob Connolly, Ciara Sheehy and Mark Howard have all won Euro u23 medals, so that would make it our 5th I think.

Best of luck to the juniors, competition is always tough at this level but here's hoping for plenty of PBs.

ecoli

sleapy235 wrote: »

We've definitely won more than 2 Euro u23 medals ever...David McCarthy, Rob Connolly, Ciara Sheehy and Mark Howard have all won Euro u23 medals, so that would make it our 5th I think.

Best of luck to the juniors, competition is always tough at this level but here's hoping for plenty of PBs.

Haha right you are meant to say Silver we have 6 in total (4 bronze)

runjb

I think Ciara Mageean for a medal for sure, hopefully a nice gold one! After that maybe Joanna Mills and Mark English in contention in their respective events.

All in all a nice balanced team, with lots of events represented,a positive feature for the future!

ecoli

runjb wrote: »

I think Ciara Mageean for a medal for sure, hopefully a nice gold one! After that maybe Joanna Mills and Mark English in contention in their respective events.

All in all a nice balanced team, with lots of events represented,a positive feature for the future!

4 in the Hammer is the most positive thing I have seen in a while for the throwing events. Great to see

Dan man

ecoli wrote: »

4 in the Hammer is the most positive thing I have seen in a while for the throwing events. Great to see

Agree with that, hopefully this is a sign of things to come with more and more interest in field events, in particular throws...if nothing else a better standard in these events should do wonders for our future European Team Championship prospects!!

Dan man

Here is a timetable with Irish athletes in action tomorrow (all times are in Irish time).
Thursday, 21 July:
7:30am Maeve Curley 10km Walk Final
Emma Prendiville 10km Walk Final
9:10am Joan Healy 100m Round 1
9:00am/
10:15am Killian Barry Hammer Qualifying Group A/B
Andrew Doyle Hammer Qualifying Group A/B
Dempsey McGuigan Hammer Qualifying Group A/B
10:20am Joanna Mills 400m Round 1

2:25pm Joan Healy 100m Semi-Finals
3:10pm Liam Markham 1,500m Round 1
3:35pm Joanna Mills 400m Semi-Finals
5:55pm Liam Brady 10,000m Final

Pisco Sour

Is Ciara attempting the double?

Dan man

04072511 wrote: »

Is Ciara attempting the double?

No she running the 1,500m, thanks

longjump67

Meave Curley 10th 51mins 22secs
Emma Prendiville 15th 53mins 5 secs
Joan Healy 4th in heat 12.02 secs through to Semis as a fastest loser
Killian Barry 22nd 64.88m
Dempsey McGuigan 27th 62.68m
Andrew Doyle 29th 61.50m

Think the hammer throwers will be a bit dissappointed as they were all around 4-5 meters of their best throws, 69m would have made final.

The walkers did very well, and Joan Healy can be proud of reaching the Semi-Finals

Joanna Mills in the 400m at around 4.20pm irish time could go close to a final spot

aburke

I'm lucky enough to be posting this from the stadium in Tallinn. Just saw Joan Healy put in a solid performance in the semi final. Seemed to get a great start.

longjump67 wrote: »

Meave Curley 10th 51mins 22secs
Emma Prendiville 15th 53mins 5 secs
Joan Healy 4th in heat 12.02 secs through to Semis as a fastest loser
Killian Barry 22nd 64.88m
Dempsey McGuigan 27th 62.68m
Andrew Doyle 29th 61.50m

Think the hammer throwers will be a bit dissappointed as they were all around 4-5 meters of their best throws, 69m would have made final.

The walkers did very well, and Joan Healy can be proud of reaching the Semi-Finals

Joanna Mills in the 400m at around 4.20pm irish time could go close to a final spot

Dan man

Joan Healy placed 6th in her 100m semi-final in a time of 11.99secs
(-1.3m/s). Considering she was racing into a fair headwind, that was a decent enough time by Healy. She finishes the competition ranked 11th.

Dan man

aburke wrote: »

I'm lucky enough to be posting this from the stadium in Tallinn. Just saw Joan Healy put in a solid performance in the semi final. Seemed to get a great start.

Lucky you, yep Healy reacted quickest from the gun.

Dan man

What happened to Liam Markham, he is not competing?

ecoli

Dan man wrote: »

What happened to Liam Markham, he is not competing?

Not even down as a DNS? very strange one alright

Dan man

Did he definitely travel out to Tallinn....the AAI website says there are 14 athletes on the team, despite earlier revealing a team of 15, including Markham.

TrackFan123

That would probably be a PB for Joan in better conditions

Anyone know why Liam Markham didn't run in the 1500? and also why Shane Quinn wasn't selected despite having the 5k standard? Guessing they're both injured

Dan man

53.89secs for Joanna Mills in her 400m semi-finals placing 3rd, narrowly missing out on an automatic qualifying spot, enough for a fastest loser place though. Great run by her.

aburke

And Joanna Mills has followed that up with a PB to come 3rd in the 400m semis.
I think it's enough for a place in the final.
Well done!

Dan man wrote: »

aburke wrote: »

I'm lucky enough to be posting this from the stadium in Tallinn. Just saw Joan Healy put in a solid performance in the semi final. Seemed to get a great start.

Lucky you, yep Healy reacted quickest from the gun.

ecoli

aburke wrote: »

And Joanna Mills has followed that up with a PB to come 3rd in the 400m semis.
I think it's enough for a place in the final.
Well done!

She does indeed qualify as a fastest loser

TrackFan123

well done to Joanna, superb run. Hopefully get another PB in the final

Katie Kirk, from NI, also through to the final

ecoli

Very agressive start from Brady heading out first lap in low 29 pace. Has gone with the lead group and just hanging off the back a long way ahead of the second group

shels4ever

ecoli wrote: »

Very agressive start from Brady heading out first lap in low 29 pace. Has gone with the lead group and just hanging off the back a long way ahead of the second group

Looks to be suffering, a super race been run by the spanish lad.

ecoli

7th in 32.37. Great result in tough conditions (heat had alot of casualties) and his agressive start which put him in no mans land very early in the race

Dan man

That was brutal race conditions for those junior lads....it wasn't pleasant viewing by the end. What a race by the Spaniard, continuing their great tradition in long distance running.

longjump67

ecoli wrote: »

7th in 32.37. Great result in tough conditions (heat had alot of casualties) and his agressive start which put him in no mans land very early in the race

The lad from Belguim ran a more even paced race and it paid off for him getting the Silver medal.

Brave run by young Brady give it a go, so can't fault him for that but wonder if in hindsight he had run a few kms with the second group

thirstywork2

Really fancy English for a medal in the 800m so decided to enquire about odds.Paddypower wouldn't give me odds and Boylesports gave me 4-5 for a medal and 5-2 for gold.very skimpy odss on both.

myflipflops

thirstywork2 wrote: »

Really fancy English for a medal in the 800m so decided to enquire about odds.Paddypower wouldn't give me odds and Boylesports gave me 4-5 for a medal and 5-2 for gold.very skimpy odss on both.

Looks a very short price alright. At least they quoted though.

Ask them to lay you 10/11 on him NOT to win a medal and see what they say.

ecoli

Mark English through the heats as an automatic qualfier. Dean Cronin fails to make the final in 7th in a time of 1.53.43

Pherekydes

Thomas Barr won heat 2 of the 400mHurdles in a PB of 51.29

TrackFan123

Pherekydes wrote: »

Thomas Barr won heat 2 of the 400mHurdles in a PB of 51.29

New NJR!

Dan man

Almost a full second quicker than his previous best time, amazing run. He now has the 5th fastest P.B. in the field and the 4th fastest this season. In with a chance.

thirtyfoot

In case its not obvious, Thomas is a brother of Jessie.

TrackFan123

He was pretty much flat out off the final hurdles, lets just hope he can deal with the rounds

If Pa Maher was in shape we'd have some duo going in there!

thirtyfoot

TrackFan123 wrote: »

lets just hope he can deal with the rounds

Hopefully will not be a concern, he very recently ran two races back to back in France that were very close to his then PB.

TrackFan123

English looked very strong in his heat, went from last on the first lap, got himself into the top 3 at 200 and eased down on the home straight along with the 1.46 frenchman, whilst the belgian pushed himself very hard.

Joanna Mills finished 5th in the final of the 400m which is a great performance.

Things are looking quite good so far

Dan man

TrackFan123 wrote: »

English looked very strong in his heat, went from last on the first lap, got himself into the top 3 at 200 and eased down on the home straight along with the 1.46 frenchman, whilst the belgian pushed himself very hard.

Joanna Mills finished 5th in the final of the 400m which is a great performance.

Things are looking quite good so far

Joanna has been promoted to 4th place as the Romanian girl was disqualified. Either way, what a great account of herself she has given at these champs.

Dan man

Here is Saturday's timetable with Irish athletes in action, times are in Irish time:

07:30am Marco Pons (Discus Qualifying Group A)
1:28pm Thomas Barr (400m Hurdles Semi-Final)
2:20pm Mark English (800m Semi-Final)

Good luck to all three.

Dan man

Thomas Barr 2nd in semi in astonishing 50.74secs. Same time as winner.

sleapy235

What a performance by Barr, was well off the lead coming into the home straight, showed amazing strength. Will definitely be in with a shout of a medal in the final, best of luck to him.

I see the Belgian has been given the victory in the semi, Barr 2nd.

Dan man

Barr will have a good lane draw for the final so he's in with every chance. Thomas has followed up sister Jesse's fantastic performance at the U-23s. Really looking forward to that final now. His battling quality in the final stages may reward him with some precious metal tomorrow.

TrackFan123

Well! Thomas Barr has proven me wrong and I am very happy for him, was in 6th position coming onto the penultimate hurdle and came through to run the same time as the winner, fantastic strength. Just squeeze a little bit more out in the final now and get a medal!

Mark English had himself in a great position in the 800 coming onto the striaght, then he started to ease down when in the top 3 and the slovak came blazing through, Mark reacted and made what first appeared to be an absolutely world class lunge as it took him 4th to 2nd in a metre, unfortunately a second photo finish reveleaved he had finished 4th and does not qualify such a shame

Dan man

Hopefully Thomas Barr will get himself a nice birthday present tomorrow with another good run, and who knows, maybe another PB or even a medal.

Pherekydes

6th in 51.02.

Still very creditable.

What's the Olympic A standard?

49.5. Very doable for one or two of these young lyons (sorry, bad pun).

Dan man

Great champs by Thomas, he showed that it is well within him to compete at international level and looked the part with those great PBs and NJR. Hopefully we will be seeing much more of him in the coming years.

ecoli

Silver for Ciara. Lead for the first 3 laps in a modest pace and was outkicked in the final lap in a SB time of 4.16.82 4 secs ahead of third.

3rd international medal in the last month by an Irish athlete great to see