Sarah Lavin of Ireland. Picture: SPORTSFILE
Séamus Clarke rounded off a remarkable few days for the Irish at the European U-18 Championships in Banska Bystrica, Slovakia on Sunday by winning a silver medal in the 5000m race walk, the Moy Valley athlete breaking his Irish U-18 record with 21:05.70.
“It means so much,” said Clarke. “The pace was a lot of spurts and I took the lead once or twice. I felt comfortable for the first 3k and the last two (kilometres), it was some of the worst pain I’ve felt. But it was all just willpower, thinking of the podium.”
The 17-year-old paid tribute to his home club and local community in Mayo for their help on the way there. “At the start, when people wouldn’t be used to (race walking), I might get a few funny looks but now people know me and know what I’m doing and that’s a confidence boost,” he said. “The support has been immense.”
He came home four seconds behind Italian champion Alessio Coppola, the silver capping a memorable championships for the Irish, with five medals in total. On Saturday, Thomas Williams won hammer throw gold, Conor Kelly won 400m bronze and Joe Burke won 200m bronze, while on Friday, Cian Crampton took bronze in the discus.
Meanwhile at the CAS Meeting International in Luxembourg, Sarah Lavin and Luke McCann ran their final tune-up races ahead of the Paris Olympics. Lavin clocked 12.78 to come home behind European champion Cyrena Samba-Mayela (12.72) while McCann was second in the 1000m in 2:18.44, a race won by Spain’s Adrian Ben in 2:17.31.
Back at home, Keelan Kilrehill (Moy Valley AC) and Grace Lynch (Dundrum South Dublin AC) claimed victories at the National 10-mile Championships in the Phoenix Park. Kilrehill clocked 49:56 to take the men’s title ahead of Gerry Forde (51:11) with Clane AC winning team gold, while Lynch took the women’s title in 56:58 ahead of Heather Murphy (59:39) with Raheny Shamrock taking the team title.