THOMAS BARR QUALIFIED for the IAAF World Championships Men’s 400m hurdles semi-finals with a fourth place finish in Sunday morning’s first round.
The Waterford runner seemed to miss out on automatic qualification due to an initial fifth place finish with a time of 49.79 seconds.
However he was moved up to fourth place after Virgin Island runner Kyron McMaster faced disqualification.
TJ Holmes finished in first place with a time of 49.35 seconds, Jamaican Jaheel Hyde in second with 49.72 seconds, with Algerian Abdelmalik Lahoulou finishing just ahead of Barr with 49.78 seconds in third.
“I can imagine what it looked like on the TV because I’m only after realising I got caught on the line by Lahoulou, which I didn’t expect,” Barr said afterwards. “He came out of no-where in the last meter.
“I had nothing to answer to. It was tense, I felt like I didn’t do myself justice out there. I was going for a top two finish — I wanted to be there to give myself a confidence boost.
“But this has given me more of a focus. I know where I need to pick up the race and I know where I need to make up the time.
“I love championships like this, it’s what I build my year around. I would give up any race during the year to get to these major championships.
“Hopefully I can go out tomorrow and do myself justice a bit more and put down on the track what I’m actually capable of. That wasn’t a representation of the shape I’m in at the moment.
“I know that and my coach knows that so hopefully I can do the job tomorrow.”
- Reporting from Will Downing in London
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