Bandon's Nicola Tuthill through to hammer final at European Athletics Championships 

IT was another hugely positive morning for Team Ireland on the opening session of day three at the European Athletics Championships in Rome with Thomas Barr (400mH), Mark Smyth (200m), and Cork's Nicola Tuthill (Hammer) all advancing from their respective qualifying rounds.

20-year-old Tuthill claimed her place in Monday's Hammer Final (8.33pm) with a superb round of throws to finish comfortably inside the top 12 qualifying places in seventh. Tuthill’s best throw of the day came in her final attempt with a huge 69.85 guaranteeing her a top 12 finish at her first senior European Championships.

Barr, who was fresh from collecting his European relay gold at the stadium yesterday, finished first in heat one of the 400m hurdles. The Ferrybank athlete powered through the final 50 meters to cross in a season’s best time of 49.31 SB which ranked as the fastest of all qualifiers. He showed no ill effects from his exertions on Friday night and will head to Monday’s semi-final full of confidence.

Fellow 400m hurdles athlete, Kelly McGrory, bowed out in the first round of her respective heat, producing a lifetime best of 57.10PB which was just shy of making it through to the next round.

Mark Smyth produced a superb performance in the men’s 200m, clocking a season's best time of 20.93 SB to book his place in this evening’s semi-final as the final qualifier (8.35pm).

The half marathon athletes opened proceedings this morning with solid performances from Shona Heaslip (34th) & Emily Haggard-Kearney (64th) in the Women's Half Marathon, while Hiko Tonosa completed his half marathon in 1:05:42 to finish 43rd in the men’s race.

The evening session will see the women’s 400m trio of Rhasidat Adeleke, Sharlene Mawdsley, and Sophie Becker go in search of a place in Monday’s medal decider from 7.05pm.

Christoper O’Donnel will also be in 400m semi-final action when he takes to the track for the third time this week (7.38pm), while Raheny’s Mark Smyth will make his second appearance of the day in the 200m semi-final (8.35pm).

All eyes will then turn to the women’s 1500m final with Ciara Mageean and Sarah Healy going in search of European glory from 9.36pm.