Fintan Dewhirst and Cara Laverty 'disappointed' after European U23 exits

It was disappointment for Cara Laverty and Fintan Dewhirst at the European Athletics U23 Championships.

Finn Valley AC’s Laverty bowed out of the 1500m and Dewhirst, of Tir Chonaill AC, exited from the 400m hurdles in Bergen, Norway.

Laverty was ninth in her 1500m heat on Friday. Laverty crossed the line in 4:23.66 in a heat won by British athlete Ava Lloyd in 4:14.55.

“Disappointed,” admitted Laverty, who has a 4:16.37 personal best.

“I feel like it was a wee bit boxy and just rough. I put myself in a decent position with 500m to go, but then it was just stupid decisions on my part.”

Laverty said her plan was to stay in the middle of the pack and “be ready for anything to happen” at the Fana Stadion.

She said: “I knew that there were some really fast ones in it, but I was kind of hoping that it would be a wee bit faster so some of them would drop back a bit.”

In Thursday’s 500m hurdles, Dewhirst finished in 56.25 seconds for seventh, in his heat. 

Dewhirst, the European U18 silver medal winner in 2022, was well outside of his 51.19 best

“I’m a little bit upset about that,” the Glenties man said.

“I just couldn’t go as fast as I wanted to. The race was going good up until hurdle three, but4 there were still seven hurdles left to go.

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“I seriously need to have a reassess and come back stringer next year.

“There was no spark. I’ve been chasing that spark since under-18s. I just need to take a step back and get back onto that world stage.”