Cian Crampton Secures U18 European Bronze

by Perri Williams

Cian Crampton was grinning all the way from the discus cage to the facing crowd last night as he secured a bronze medal in the Discus at the u18 European Championships in Slovakia. Not only did the Edenderry AC set a new irish u18 Discus record but he is also the first ever Irish field event athlete to medal at an u18 Europeans. Last year’s European Youth bronze medalists had a previous best of 59.39 and threw 60.55 on his second throw, moving him into second place. A temporary position as a massive 64.21 from the eventual winner Jakub Rodziak in the third round saw Campton sit in third place. Further throws of 60.23 and 59.30 sealed his bronze medal. It was a jubilant moment with the scores of Irish supporters waving as many flags as there were people. A delighted Cian said he was “buzzin, absolutely buzzin, I went into the competition yesterday ranked 7^th, thinking I would be lucky to get 8^th…going into the final I thought I would be happy with the top eight…..and now I have a medal”..

These championships have been a massive experience for Ben Sykes, Ireland’s newest sprinter. Having set two new personal bests in both the heat (10.71) and the semi-final (10.65) the Orangegrove athlete finished 7^th in tonight’s final. “If you told me before I came here that I would have finished 7^th I would never have believed you in a million years” he said after the race.

Enya Silkena (Ratoath) finished 11^th in the heptathlon with a new personal best of 5408 along with three new event personals best; 200m, high jump and hurdles. Silkena will return to the stadium tomorrow for her individual javelin competition.

Savanagh O’Callaghan finished 16^th in the 5,000m walk in brutally hot conditions. O’Callaghan is the third generation of her family to compete at European level. With grandad Bernie and dad Pierce all having competed at European race-walking competitions in their day. The West will certainly be awake tonight.

Our 800m runners are all through to the semi-finals tomorrow with Pia Langton (KCH) and Saoirse Fitzgerald (Lucan) running perfectly placed races to secure an automatic qualifying spot. Bobby Moore (Bray Runners) who has been having a superb season so far, ran a personal best of 1:52.15 to advance to the semifinals tomorrow. Spare a thought for Daire O’Donnell (Nenagh) who fell ill and unfortunately could not race his 800m.

Conor Penney (Craughwell) has been in a perpetual state of elation since he set the schools record of 2.09m in the high jump at last months Tailteann Games. Skipping the opening height of 1.86m, he easily cleared 1.91 and got through to the final on Sunday with an effortless 2.05m. Calm and undaunted by the competition, it is hard to believe that he is still only fifteen.

Our 200m athletes had a good day of competition with Joe Burke (Templemore) winning the heat of his 200m and Molly Daly (KCH) getting an automatic qualifying spot.

Tomorrow promises to be another exciting day for Team Ireland. Thomas Williams goes in the hammer final at 4.05pm, where the green, white and gold will provide a nice backdrop to the hammer cage. It is going to be a long day for Eoin O’Callaghan as he faces ten events over the next two days in the decathlon. Its an early start for Clodagh Gill in the ladies 3000m with lots of semi-finalist and other finalist coming back for more action.