Irelands Brian Gregan Places 7th in the Semi-Finals of the 400m on Day 3 of the World Track and Field Championships in Moscow

Brian Gregan (Clonliffe Harriers AC) finished seventh in his semi-final of the men's 400m on day three of the World Track and Field Championships in Moscow, Russia. Gregan having only qualified as a fastest loser for the semi-final stage was drawn in lane two in the first semi final. He needed to place in the top two positions in order to secure automatic qualification for the final.

The Clonliffe Harrier has had an up and down build up to these championships due to injuries. Despite this, Gregan ran a strong middle phase of the race, not loosing too much ground to the athletes on his outside. Yousef Almed Masrahi of Saudi Arabi was having the race of his life from lane eight as he stormed to victory in a new national record of 44.61 seconds. Gregan battled hard around the top bend however he lacked the strength required in the last 100m to challenge the leading athletes, eventually finishing seventh in a time of 45.98 seconds.
Commenting afterwards Gregan said "Missing that much training, to come back and run 46.0, 45.9 is positive. This was a bonus after making it through the heat. The last month has just been on and off, on and off, it's not ideal coming into a World Championships, but this should stand me in good stead for the Europeans next year, and onwards. My last 100 was a bit weak, but it was okay. I just couldn't go with them around the last bend"
Gregan would have needed to run a massive personal best to have any chance of qualifying for the final as the top eight athletes all ran under 45 seconds.
Speaking of this afterwards Gregan said "Hopefully, I'll go sub 45 down the line. I feel I'm capable of that with a good block of training. If you do that, you're in with a shot. It's difficult to get into good races, and that's something I need to do more of. It was great racing these guys; I'm trying to be positive. I'm looking forward to getting back training. I'm trying to get into some good races later this season but it's hard."
Irish hopes now turn to Laura Reynolds (Mohill AC) who goes in the 20km Race Walk tomorrow morning at 06.35am.