Ireland’s Thomas Barr and Cillin Greene failed to progress from their 400m
heats on the opening morning of the European Indoor Championships in Glasgow.
Greene was the first Irish athlete in action today, but he failed to finish
his 400m heat after a mid-race collision. The Galway runner had the slowest
season’s best time of all six comeptitors and the race represented a big step
up in class for him. Greene got off to a strong start but at half-way mark he
collided with Poland’s Karol Zalewski, although after a stumble, both runners
recovered.
Disaster was to follow however, as race favourite Jan Tesar then ran into Zalewski before hitting the ground and Greene, who was right behind the Czech, couldn’t get out of the way and tripped over the prone Tesar and was unable to finish his race.
Barr was next up but never looked like challenging in his five-man heat. Drawn
in lane one, the Ferrybank runner was unable to reel in race leaders Karsten
Warholm or Vitaliy Butrym. Back in last place at the halfway stage Barr was
unable to make any ground on the rest of the group and finished in a
disappointing 48.22, well off his season’s best and way outside the qualifying
time of 47.50.
