Cuddihy claims final place
Joanne Cuddihy produced a lifetime best to guarantee herself a place in tomorrow night’s 400 metres final at the European Championships in Gothenburg.
Facing a field full of rich talent, Cuddihy clocked a mark of 51.09 seconds for third place behind Olga Zaytseva, who beat her Russian team-mate Tatyana Veshkrova by 0.38secs in a time of 50.49.
Given the world class standard of her rivals, she might not win a medal, but could again lower her personal best.
Liam Reale, in the 1500m final, was unable to match the fast pace of leading runners over the final 400m, fading back to eighth position.
Reale clocked a time of 3mins 42.65secs as France’s Mehdi Baala retained his title in 3:39.02.
Over 200m, Paul Hession posted a time of 20.80secs in third place in his second round qualifier to make the semi-finals. Team-mate Paul Brizzel failed to finish in his.
Highly-fancied Alistair Cragg and Derval O’Rourke, begin their quest for medals in their qualifying races tomorrow.
Cragg goes into his 5000 metres as the fastest man in the field, although his form since running 13mins 8.97secs at the New York Grand Prix in June has been fairly erratic.
But the 26-year-old South-African born star, has all of the required credentials to lift Ireland’s first medal at the championships.
Mo Farah will be one of his biggest rivals, the Somalian-born runner having become Britain’s second fastest-ever performer with a mark of 13:09.40.
O’Rourke, winner of the world indoor 60m hurdles title in March, has been fighting back from injury since that sensational victory in Moscow.
Now the 25-year-old Jim Kilty-coached star from Cork, will be aiming to challenge for the 100m hurdles medal, although he will face some awesome opposition in the Ullevi stadium.
