The Tír Chonaill AC’s Fintan Dewhirst put in an excellent 400m Hurdles heat in the Irish bib at the European Under-18 Athletic Championships this morning.
He sealed his semi-final berth at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University Stadium in Israel, coming second in his heat in a personal best time of 52.58 seconds.
This knocked 0.4 of a second off his previous best, which came just two weeks ago at the Franconville Under-18 international in France.
The heat was won by Finland’s Antti Sainio in 52.24 seconds, with Denmark’s Von de Ahé third in a time of 52.54.
Therefore, Dewhirst, a St Columba’s Comprehensive School Glenties student, was the second fastest of the 116 qualifiers ahead of Wednesday’s semi-finals, where he will be joined by another Irishman, Sean Carmody from Leevale AC in Cork, who clocked 54.85 in his heat.
Last month, Dewhirst won gold in the under-18 110m and 400m hurdles at the Ulster underage championships at the Antrim Forum.