O’Donnell’s seasonal best at Euros

NORTH Sligo athlete Chris O’Donnell ran a seasonal best time in his first outing in a major championship as a Senior.

The 20-year-old Grange native was upbeat after running a season’s best time in his 400m heat at the European Championships in Berlin on Tuesday morning.

Chris finished 6th in the 400m heat and the North Sligo AC athlete was the third youngest man in the 400m and posted a seasonal best time of 46.81 out of lane one.

The recently crowned national champion came sixth in a time of 46.81 on his first visit to a major championship as a senior.

His performance was all the more impressive given that he had to run out of lane one.

The Sligo native was happy with his showing.

He said after the race: “It’s fantastic to be here.

“You can talk about lane one but it doesn’t matter.

“I’m one of the youngest competitors here in the whole cham- pionship,

“There are not many juniors that go straight from senior in to finals, winning medals... very few.

“So you have to have days like this.

“I’ll definitely look back in years to come and say this is the start of the senior career that made me.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy with how I ran today but in a couple of years’ time, hopefully I’ll keep making these championships and hoping to be right up there with those boys,” he added.

The North Sligo athlete announced his arrival on July 29th last on the Senior stage when he put in a stunning performance to win his first Irish senior 400 metre title at Morton Stadium, Dublin. In doing so, he also got the news he was waiting on to confirm his selection to run the 400M and 4 X 400M relay at the upcoming European Senior Championships in Berlin.

It is a great breakthrough for the 20-year-old athlete who is now studying full time at Loughborough University in the UK.

This young athlete is already showing that he possesses championship pedigree and will gain critical experience from the recent European Championships.

I’LL DEFINITELY LOOK BACK IN YEARS TO COME AND SAY THIS IS THE START OF THE SENIOR CAREER THAT MADE ME.

North Sligo athlete Chris O’Donnell of Ireland competing in the Men’s 400m event during Day 1 of the 2018 European Athletics Championships at The Olympic Stadium in Berlin. Pic: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile.

Hillary Lyons and his daughter Méabh from Ballyrush at the GAA Be There Experience at the All-Ireland Senior Championship semi-final between Dublin and Galway in Croke Park. Pic: Daire Brennan/Sportsfile.