Rachel McCann has been running at a consistently high standard throughout the indoor season, having won the Irish University title last week in a new PB, Irish University record & club record of 54.48s, so it was no surprise when she cruised to victory on Saturday afternoon in her 400m heat with a time of 55.14s. But with two Olympians in the final, a win always looked unlikely and even a medal was going to be a big ask for the 22yr old so, despite recording yet another PB, she was unlucky to finish just outside the medals and had to settle for 4th place in another new lifetime best time of 54.45s.
Jamie Moffatt may have been the youngest athlete in the men’s 60m, but that didn’t deter the 17yr old from mixing it with Ireland’s top senior sprinters as he ran 6.97s in his heat, finishing second behind the Irish indoor record holder and gaining automatic qualification for the semi-final. He ran a faultless race in the semi-final against some strong opposition, again finishing second in a time of 6.87s, just 1/100th outside his PB but, more importantly, achieving automatic qualification for the final. Unfortunately, at the end of a long day of competition, he couldn’t quite repeat his earlier heroics but still ran an excellent 6.95s to take 8th place in the final.
[Jamie Moffatt]