Sport

Three Irish athletes run Olympic qualifying times in Letterkenny

Kerry O’Flaherty and Michelle Finn also achieve standard for World Championships

Kerry O’Flaherty: her 3,000m Steeplechase time of 9:42.61 qualifies her for both the World Championships and 2016 Olympics. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho.
Kerry O’Flaherty: her 3,000m Steeplechase time of 9:42.61 qualifies her for both the World Championships and 2016 Olympics. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho.
Fri Jul 10 2015 - 22:38

Three Irish women athletes achieved the 3,000m steeplechase qualifying time for the 2016 Olympic Games in Letterkenny.

Kerry O'Flaherty (Newcastle AC, 9:42.61), Michelle Finn (Leevale AC, 9:43.34) and Sara Treacy (Dunboyne AC, 9:44.15) finished second, third and fourth respectively behind Jamie Cheever of the United States. The Olympic qualifying time is 9 minutes, 45 seconds.

The runs by Finn and O’Flaherty were also under the qualifying time (9.44) set for the World Championships in Beijing in August.

The 3,000 metres steeplechase was one of the feature events at the third Letterkenny AC International Track and Field Event held at the Danny Media Track.

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In the feature Sub-4 Minute Mile Challenge, American Jon Peterson, won the race but just failed to get under four minutes, clocking 4.00.07. South African Lebakeny Sesele set a new track record by winning the 100 metres in 10.36 seconds.