Cork hammer thrower Nicola Tuthill impresses in first senior final at European Championships

CORK'S Nicola Tuthill finished an impressive ninth in her first senior final at the European Championships.

The 20-year-old from Bandon produced a super round of throws in qualifying, with her best throw of 69.85 ranking seventh best of the athletes to qualify for the final. 

In the final she managed 69.09m in her opening three throws, with only the top eight given another three throws.

The UCD athlete recently became only the second Irish woman to throw over 70m and is sure to have sights set on moving ever closer to Olympian Eileen O’Keefe’s national record (73.21m).

“I’m really happy to have placed ninth, I wasn’t far off my PB but for my first senior international, I can’t ask for much more,” she said after. “It’s nice to come out and wear the green singlet again and perform close to my best.”

Bandon AC's Phil Healy was first out on track for Ireland this morning, just missing out on progressing to the semi-final of the women’s 200m by three places, finishing fifth in her heat in a time of 23.51. 

Healy’s attention will know swiftly turn to the women’s 4x400m relay team who are set to take to the track Tuesday morning.

Louise Shanahan went in a stacked women's 800m and was unfortunately unable to replicate her heroics from 2022 which saw her reach the European 800m final. 

Shanahan crossed in 6th place in her heat in 2:04.81 and will now look to focus on qualification for her second Olympic Games.

There was success in the women’s 400m final for Ireland dynamo Rhasidat Adeleke, who secured a silver medal in the Stadio Olimpico, on the back of her gold in the relay on Friday night.