O’Brien clinches highest Irish finish in Poland

IRISH short track speed skater Liam O’Brien has finished in 25th place overall on his debut at the European Short Track Speed Skating Championships in Gdansk, Poland, the highest placement ever by an Irish skater at an International Skating Union Championship.

On Friday, O’Brien was drawn in Heat 4 of the 1500m quarter-finals and came fourth in a time of 2:18.718. The 500m heats saw him come third in Heat 3 with a time of 43.156 before he clocked 1:33.010 in Heat 4 to finish fourth in the 1000m heats.

The following day, O’Brien was back on the ice for two ranking finals – the first was the 1500m, where he came second in Heat 3 in a time of 2:32.957 to finish 23rd overall in that distance, before he came second again in Heat 4 of the 500m with a time of 42.826 to place 27th overall for the distance.

O’Brien wrapped up yesterday with the ranking final for the 1000m where he achieved second in Heat 3 with a time of 1:31.002. He placed 28th in the distance which gave him an overall championship classification of 25th.

In addition, O’Brien’s overall ranking, well inside the top 32, means he has secured two spots for Ireland in the men’s category at the 2022 European Short Track Speed Skating Championships which will be held in Dresden, Germany.

“Thank you to the ISAI for giving me the chance to represent Ireland at the European Championships,” O’Brien said. “It was a bit different with the whole bubble system this time, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and hopefully next time can do a bit better and represent Ireland proudly.”