Ireland's Anthony Lieghio 6th in European U23 800m Final.

There were some more good performances today from the Irish team on Day 2 of the 8th biennial European U23 Athletics Championships in Ostrava, Czech Republic.

None better the excellent 6th place achieved by Tallaght AC's Anthony Lieghio in the final of the men's 800m this afternoon. The talented and determined Lieghio ran a fine race to finish close to the bronze medal winner in a time of 1:48.77, with the gold medal going to Adam Kszczot of Poland, the European Indoor Champion, in 1:46.32. Lieghio will no doubt learn from this international experience and hope to build on it in the years ahead, as has made real progress this season alone so far, moving under the 1:50 barrier regularly.

Driven Irish high jumper Kourosh Foroughi (Star of the Sea AC) also kept the focus this morning and qualified for Sunday's final when he cleared 2.14 metres, showing excellent consistency and great form, clearing every height bar one on his first attempt. Foroughi qualified 2nd from Group A.

Crusaders AC's Steven Colvert was in flying form late this afternoon when he won the 1st heat of the men's 200m in a season's best time of 20.95 seconds. Colvert will be in action tomorrow morning in the semi-finals of the event and will be looking to continue his winning ways and qualify for tomorrow's final, where the talented Dubliner will have the potential and hunger to run a new personal best time. Ferrybank's Chris Russell finished 7th in his heat in 21.63 seconds, outside his best time of 21.23, set in Belgium earlier this season.

There was disappointment when Dooneen AC's Timmy Crowe was eliminated in his semi-final of the 400m hurdles. Crowe finished seventh in 52.44, while Paul Byrne (St Abban's AC) also finishing 7th in his semi in 51.93, which was only just outside his best. Both athletes were drawn in the challenging lane 7 and will be disappointed not to have progressed to the final.

David Flynn (Clonliffe Harriers AC) failed to progress from his heat of the 3,000 m Steeplechase, where he struggled to find his best form, finishing 9th in 9:04.60. Ballymena & Antrim's Claire Wilkinson also felt the pressure of international competition in the women's pole vault qualification round, where she had a lone successful clearance of 3.50 metres.
Ireland's sole female sprint representative at the championships, Ferrybank's Niamh Whelan, posted 24.13 seconds in her heat of the women's 200m to place 5th, outside the top 3 automatic requirement for semi-final qualification, but good enough to claim one of the fastest loser spots for tomorrow's semi-finals.
Tomorrow Clonliffe AC's Brian Gregan will attempt to win a second medal for Ireland in a major championship this year, when he competes in the final of the 400 metres, after the gold medal won by Kate Veale in the IAAF World Youth's Championships in Lille last week.

In March Gregan was very disappointed not to get through his heat in the European Indoors in Paris, but yesterday the tall Tallaght man looked to be right back to his best when he finished second in his heat with a time of 46.32 seconds, the fastest time by an Irish athlete this summer.

21 year old Gregan has a real chance of getting among the medals in the eight-athlete final, where he will face a strong field including the two British runners Luke Lennon-Ford and Nigel Levine. Gregan has a best of 46.21 but should be ready to run go faster than this tomorrow if required.