It's been a hugely successful week for Ireland at the Under 20 European Championships in Grosseto.
Gina Akpe-Moses' gold medal in the final of the women's 100m was followed yesterday by Michaela Walsh. The Mayo woman took bronze in the hammer throw and finished in seventh overall in the shot put.
This evening, a third medal was won for Ireland when John Fitzsimons stormed to bronze in the final of the 800m. He finished behind Great Britain's Markhim Lonsdale and gold medal winner Marino Bloudek of Croatia.
Gold to Croatia!
A fantastic scrap in the 800m final between Croatia's Marino Bloudek and Great Britain's Markhim Lonsdale. #Grosseto2017 pic.twitter.com/v0OOBbGoyH— European Athletics (@EuroAthletics) July 23, 2017
After a difficult start in which the 19-year-old found himself behind the British duo Lonsdale and Ben Greenwood, Fitzsimons asserted himself during the final lap.
With the top two out of sight down the final straight, Fitzsimons says he dug deep to register Ireland's third medal of the championships.
I can't believe it. The first lap was slow, so I was counting my blessings. I was very tired after my semi-final, so I fancied the slow lap and hung in there.
After I made a move down the back straight, I hung on for dear life.
[In the final stretch] the legs were gone. All I was thinking was to hold on for dear life. Hold on. Think of all the sessions you've done all year and let your legs do the work.
The amount of messages and support that I've gotten. I couldn't let them down.
Gina Akpe-Moses, Ciara Neville, Molly Scott and Sharlene Mawdsley also came close to adding a bronze in the women's 4x100m relay final.
The team came up just short behind Great Britain and settled for fourth. The result will no doubt be disappointing for the team after they came first in their heat with a national record time of 44.42 seconds.
Just outside their world U20 record from the heats!
Germany storm to the 4x100m title in 43.44 ahead of France and Great Britain. pic.twitter.com/ZxvgAArIV7— European Athletics (@EuroAthletics) July 23, 2017
With events drawing to a close this evening, Ireland will reflect on their performance as largely positive - in particular Akpe-Moses' gold medal success on Friday.
