Super Silver for Ireland's Brian Gregan over 400m at European U23 Championships

Brian Gregan (Clonliffe Harriers) fulfilled the potential he first displayed two years ago when he won a magnificent silver medal finishing second in the 400 metres at the European Under 23 Championships in Ostrava today.

The 21 year old Tallaght man ran the race of his young life, splitting the two British 45 second athletes to claim a place on the victory rostrum in a new PB time 46.12 seconds, beating his previous best of 46.21 which he ran last year.

This is the second silver medal won by an Irish athlete in these highly competitive European U23 championships, matching that of James Nolan in the 800 m back in 1999.

Gregan's performance was a victory for his determination and will power after experiencing some difficult times in the last year, including a big disappointment when he was eliminated in the 400m heats of the European indoors in March.

Drawn in lane five in the final, Gregan was always in a strong medal position, and half-ways down the home straight he looked as if he might claim gold, and finished very close on the heels of Nigel Levine, the British winner in 46.10 with his compatriot, Luke Lennon-Ford, third on 46.22.

"Brian ran a very sensible race and his tactics were perfect" said his loyal coach John Shields. "He is a great athlete to train and the few set-backs he has had in the past has only made him stronger as a person and as an athlete."
This silver medal will only serve to drive the highly talented Dubliner on to more success in his athletics career. Gregan has the talent, hunger and youth to push on from this excellent performance here in Ostrava, and will no doubt be looking to break into the 45 second category before the season is out.

This is the third international medal won in recent months by young Irish athletes in a major championship, following the U23 team gold in the European cross-country championship last December, and the victory by Kate Veale in the World Youth's 5 K Walk last week.

Jessie Barr (Ferrybank AC) ran a great race to finish fifth in the final of the women's 400 m hurdles, clocking a career best time of 56.61 (and an Irish U23 record) from lane 8, beating her previous best of 57.21. This was a worthy performance by Barr, one of the new young names in Irish Athletics with a healthy future.

Steven Colvert (Crusaders AC) ran a lifetime best time of 20.76 in his semi-final of the 200 metres yesterday to qualify for the final, but a lane one draw made the task today very difficult for the tall and talented Dubliner. Colvert finished in 6th in 21.03 behind the Greek winner, Likourges Tsakanos (20.56). However Colvert is very much a name for the future with potentially a big career ahead of him as has only been running fewer than three years.

Sara Treacy (Moynalvy AC) ran very well to qualify for the final of the women's 1500m, running a new PB of 4:16.32 to finish 7th in the 1st heat, to claim one of the fastest loser places for the final tomorrow.
In the Men's 1500m heats, Ireland's three representatives found the experience challenging . The best performance of the three was St Coca's Paul Robinson, who finished in 6th in 3:46.52 in the 2nd heat, missing the cut for the final by one place. Letterkenny AC's Darren McBrearty and Donore Harriers John Travers were in action in the 1st heat and placed 13th and 14th respectively, in 3:50.39 and 3:54.31, and both will be very disappointed with their performances, having both run in the low 3:40's earlier this season.

Niamh Whelan (Ferrybank AC) was eliminated in her semi-final of the women's 200m, finishing 7th in 23.92 but will have grounds to believe she can improve her PB's later in the season over both sprint events. Young Mairead Murphy (Ferrybank AC) also gave it 100% in her 100m hurdles heat, and placed 4th in 13.79, just outside her best time set earlier this season, but unfortunately failing to progress to the final.

Colin Quirke (Crusaders AC) found the environment challenging today, and failed to registered a throw in the qualification of the men's Discus.