At the Athlone International Grand Prix Meeting last evening, Waterford's Thomas Barr ran a fine race in the 400 metres finishing a close third in a personal best time of 46.44 seconds (his old time being 46.85).
The Ferrybank native will be delighted with this and hoping to transfer it onto his 400 hurdles times later this year as he prepares for the Olympics.
The race was won in 46.17 by Tony Van Diepen from The Netherlands, last year’s European Indoor bronze medalist, with triple World Champion Pavel Maslak from Czech Republic second in 46.28.
Meanwhile, Grace Furlong from Waterford was 6th in the long jump, while Niamh Whelan (Ferrybank) did not progress from the heats of the 60 metres.