All eyes were firmly focused on the Olympic Stadium this evening, as Thomas Barr was the sole Team Ireland athlete in action in the Men’s 400m Hurdles semi-final.
It wasn’t to be for the Waterford man though, as his second Olympic Games came to a close following a fourth place finish in his semi-final (and 9th overall) in a blistering time of 48.26 seconds.
Though a strong run from Barr, it was unfortunately not enough to secure a fastest time qualifier spot, after finishing outside the automatic places.
"I was coming over the hurdle smooth" explained Barr "much faster than I usually do over hurdle seven, but I didn’t bring my trail leg through as quickly as I’m used to, and I just clipped it".
"It was an inch, and yeah, it completely knocked my momentum. I didn’t feel lactic in my legs, so I was able to recover, but it probably did cost me a place in the final".
“I went into that in PB shape,” added Barr. “It’s such a shame, because that’s the second fastest time I’ve ever run, and it’d probably have been a 47-something.”
The event is at its most competitive point in history, with Barr acknowledging that, saying: “It’s great to be a part of this event, it’s paving history at the moment. It would have been nice to be able to pave a bit of it in the Olympic final.”
