Barr’s delivering and he is yet to reach his peak

IN RIO in 2016, Tom Barr became the first Irish athlete to reach the final of a sprint event since Bob Tisdall in 1932.

He was a champion at the World Student Games in 2015. Barr set his first national record in 2014, running the 400m hurdles in 49.61 seconds. Later that year, he became the first Irish athlete to run under 49 seconds for the event, setting a new national mark of 48.90. In 2015, he lowered it to 48.65. In the semi-finals of his event at Rio, he broke it again, running 48.39. And in the final, he broke it once more, haring to fourth place and within millimetres of Olympic bronze, in a time of 47.97.

In Berlin on Thursday night, Barr took bronze with a finishing time of 48.31, the fastest he has ran since Rio and the second-fastest time of his career.

There is a solid record of progression there, as well as a proven temperament for the big occasion.

Barr is an outstanding athlete – and he is also a credible one. He turned 26 on July 24, and should be in his prime come the Olympics in Tokyo in two years’ time.

There is a bubbling generation of young sprint talent that promises much. Barr is delivering. And he can get better. His race isn’t run.