The Waterford runner triumphed with a time of 48.39 – a new Irish record.
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“I had only run 50 [seconds] in Amsterdam [at the European Championships] and I wasn’t sure if I was coming out here as a 50 runner or a 49, or a 48”.
“I’m shaking like a leaf. I started to run relaxed”, he says.
Ireland’s Thomas Barr celebrates coming first in his semi-final [©INPHO/Dan Sheridan]THOMAS BARR has become the first Irishman in 84 years to qualify for the prestigious 400metre hurdle final at the Olympic Games.
“I felt really good in warm-ups”.
Barr won his semi-final from Haron Koech of Kenya.
“I don’t know. I really don’t know”.
“I’m astonished. After all the mishaps over the previous year with injuries, to win a semi-final and get a national record is incredible”, he said.
As well as things coming together on the track, Barr added that they have come together off of it as well.
“And I’ve been riddled with injury this season, and it was only yesterday, after my heat, and that I finally got some confidence back”. And in a final anything can happen.
Indeed it sounds so good he said it twice: the lane draw is certainly flawless, and only the American Kerron Clement, who won the first semi-final in 48.26, and the Jamaican Annsert Whyte, who won the second semi-final in a personal best of 48.32, ended up with quicker times.
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IRELAND’S THOMAS BARR qualified for the 400m hurdle final at the Rio Olympics tonight, finishing first in his semi-final.
