“I knew I could pick him off!”
Thomas Barr is a European Championships silver medallist after a superb, season’s best run in Berlin.
The Waterford native finished superbly in the 400-metres men’s hurdles final to get home in third and claim Ireland’s first sprint medal in the competition in 84 years.
Barr narrowly missed out on an Olympic medal at Rio 2016, when he finished fourth, but he would not be denied in Germany this evening. Warholm Karsten of Norway claimed gold but Barr, in third, was just 0.67 seconds behind.
Watch as Thomas Barr held on to take a bronze medal in the 400m hurdles at the European Athletics Championships #rtesport pic.twitter.com/tanLZMr9bB
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) August 9, 2018
There were scenes of pure joy, soon after, as the hurdler saluted the heavy Irish contingent in the crowd and embraced his coach Hayley Harrison.
It’s a bit wild trackside and an embrace from coach Hayley Harrison for @TomBarr247 pic.twitter.com/KlR4RBhIuY
— Athletics Ireland (@irishathletics) August 9, 2018
Following his run of 48.31 seconds – a season’s best and his secomd fastest time ever clocked – Barr caught up with his old Team Ireland buddy David Gillick. Now working for RTE, Gillick was just as chuffed as the rest of the Irish nation as he asked Barr to re-run his race on a nearby TV screen.
Barr explained how he felt energy in his legs just past the half-way stage and was confident, with the leading two Norwegian and Turkish runners out of reach, that bronze was within his grasp. He said:
“Earlier in the day I felt nervous but as time went on I felt more relaxed… I was like, ‘Bring it on!'”
There were a couple of funny moments, too, when Gillick had to re-start the interview as he heard RTE were not ready to go live and Barr telling his old mate he was doing his race analysis job for him.
"Earlier in the day I felt nervous but as time went on I felt more relaxed" – @TomBarr247 reflects on becoming the first Irishman in the 84-year history of the European Athletics Championships to win a medal in a sprint event #rtesport pic.twitter.com/zgaq3BLpmb
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) August 9, 2018
A true class act and a well deserved medal.
Ireland have another chance to double up on their sprint medals, later in the championship, when Leon Reid goes off in the men’s 200-metre final.
