IRELAND’S THOMAS BARR was today named April’s Athlete of the Month by European Athletics after winning the 400m hurdles event in Florida two weeks ago.
The 22-year-old was in impressive form at the Tom Jones Memorial Classic as he ran a World Championship qualifying time of 49.08 seconds.
The Ferrybank athlete finished inside the qualifying zone for August’s IAAF World Track and Field Championships in Beijing.
Barr was in action at this weekend’s World Relay Championships in Bahamas with the men’s 4x400m team but Ireland were eliminated during Saturday’s heats after finishing sixth.
Barr’s fine form continued, however, as he ran the second leg in a blazing 45.13 seconds.
“It was tough enough,” he said. “I thought we could have got a quicker time, but we all gave it our all, so we can’t ask for more than that. It’s really good to have a team here.”
The Irish team will now need to be ranked inside the top 16 teams in the world before the close in qualification on 9 August in order to qualify for the World Track and Field Championships.
