Thomas produced one of Ireland’s greatest Olympic moments on the track when he was fourth, by a mere fraction, in Rio 2016, just 0.05 seconds off bronze in a sensational sub-48 time that still stands as the national record.

A finalist at European Junior and U23 level who was a World Student Games champion in 2015, he has been a model of consistency, always making the semi-finals at least of major championships, and finally won a major medal (bronze) at the 2018 Europeans in Berlin.

He finally surpassed that in Rome this summer when he was a key part of the gold medal-winning Mixed 4x400m victory. His season’s best of 48.79 seconds in Poland in mid-June was short of the automatic mark (48.70) for Paris, but notably his fastest time since the Olympic semi-final in Tokyo.

Despite winning his 12th national title in the 400mh, his final ranking was #42 in the new qualifying system, just two places short of qualifying to race the individual 400mh.