At the Diamond League (Weltklasse) meeting in Zurich last Thursday evening, Ferrybank AC’s Thomas Barr produced another noteworthy performance on the international stage when placing third in the 400 metres hurdles in European Athletics’ most famous annual meet.
The World University Games champion produced a superb closing 100 metres to finish third in 49.79 seconds, just a few strides shy of Estonia’s Rasmus Magi (49.37); the race was won by home favourite Kariem Hussein in 49.16.
All three had been semi finalists at the World Championships in Beijing, as were fourth placed Michael Bultheel (Belgium – 49.91) and eighth man home, Niall Flannery (Great Britain – 51.26).
Thomas’s power from the second last hurdle on was particularly eye-catching and it’s evident that his strength and conditioning improves over the next 12 to 18 months (should he stay injury free of course), that his impressive list of finishes should grow all the more noteworthy at the highest level.
The affable Dunmore East native is back in action in the Diamond League this Friday, when he competes in the Van Damme Memorial meet in Brussels. He’s due to be on the blocks against some of the world’s best at 7.04pm approximately and, once more, we wish him well!
