The first day of competition for Team Ireland could not have gone much better as Jason Smyth, Greta Streimikyte and Orla Barry all claimed gold medals for Ireland with Jason and Orla retaining their titles and Great winning her first European title. It fell to Noelle Lenihan to set a similar tone for Day 3 of Berlin 2018 and she certainly did deliver.
Lenihan entered the championships as the defending European Champion and she thoroughly justified that tag as she threw an amazing discus of 32.95 to break her own World Record and reclaim her Women’s Discus F38 title.
Orla Comerford secured her first ever European Championship medal after a strong performance in the 200m T13 event. Orla was in contention coming off the bend but European Record Holder; Adzhametova of the Ukraine was too strong on the home straight as she set a new championship record of 24:78. Comerford will be delighted with her first ever podium finish but she is looking forward to her stronger 100m on Friday.
Paul Keogan set his fastest time of the season as he completed the 200M T37 in 25:20 finishing just over 1 second off a podium position. It was a similar result for Patrick Monahan in the Men’s 400M T53. Patrick started slowly and was the backmarker at the 200m point. However, he came into the race strongly in the second half of the race to finish in 5th place in a time of 55:9.
After two days of competition for Team Ireland the medal haul to date includes an astounding 4 gold medals and 1 Bronze Medal from Berlin 2018.
Tomorrow marks what could be a very exciting day for Team Ireland as Jason Smyth returns in his favoured event; the 100 metres. Young Jordan Lee makes his debut in the High Jump, David Leavy will make his European debut for Ireland and Patrick Monahan is due back in action in his favoured 800M event.
