The morning session on day three (14th August) of the European Athletics Championships in Zurich proved to be a mixed bag for the two Irish athletes competing.
Up first was Laura Reynolds (Mohill AC) as she contested the 20km Race Walk around a one kilometre loop in the city centre of Zurich.
From the offset Reynolds struggled to cope with the pace passing through the 2k point in 9.17. It was clear it wasn’t going to be the talented Leitrim athlete’s day as the gap continued to open with Reynolds passing the 8km point in 37.20, a minute behind the leaders.
Unfortunately for Reynolds the race leaders extended their lead and just before the 12km point she was forced to pull out. Reynolds had been suffering from cramp early in the race and along with breathing problems this forced he to drop out of the championship race.
Kelly Proper (Ferrybank AC) fared better as she finished fourth in her heat of the 200m qualifying automatically for the semi-finals. Proper got out of the blocks well and although losing ground to the top three athletes she powered down the finishing straight to secure that all important automatic qualification place with a time of 23.37.
Commenting afterwards Proper said “I felt great my bend wasn’t as strong as it usually is, all I can do now is go back recover and get ready for the semi-final later. One thing I can guarantee is I will give it my all later.”
Those semi-finals for Proper take place this evening at 6.42pm with Ireland’s other competitor Christine McMahon (Ballymena & Antrim AC) goes in the semi-finals of the 400m at 5.20pm.
