European U18 Championship silver medallist Fintan Dewhirst arrived home yesterday afternoon to an emotional reception from family and friends at Dublin airport.
The Tír Chonaill athlete arrive back in Ireland alongside his 19 teammates who represented Ireland at the third edition of these championships.
Finn O’Neill from Lifford-Strabane AC was one of these athletes, and despite some promising performances, Dewhirst was the star of the competition for Ireland.
Throughout the Championships Dewhirst produced stellar performances in the build-up to what was a spectacular 400m Hurdle final. Running a perfectly timed race, the 16-year-old set a new PB of 51.65, and a new U18 National 400m Hurdle record.
Upon his arrival home, Dewhirst of Tir Chonaill AC attended a reception with his family and former coach at the Athletics Ireland Head Office in Santry with Performance Pathway Manager Jacqui Freyne, High Performance Committee Chair Fintan O’Reilly and Athletics Ireland CEO Hamish Adams.
The St Columbas Comprehensive, Glenties student finished in a time of 51.65s, almost a second off his previous PB that he set in the quarter-finals in Jerusalem on Tuesday with a 52.58s.
Dewhirst looked to have a slow start over the first 200m but came home strongly to take the silver medal behind Norwegian athlete Bastien Elnan Aurstad who finished in 50.89. Hungarian Gergó Takács was third in 51.77s.
