Donegal sprinter Conor Kelly claimed gold at the European U20 Athletics Championships in Finland on Saturday.
The 18-year-old from Finn Valley AC produced a stunning performance, finishing in 45.83 to set a new Irish U20 record.
Kelly flew out of the traps to dominate the race and come in ahead of France’s Milann Klemenic (46.44) and Czech Republic’s Ondrej Loupal of the Czech Republic (46.62) who took silver and bronze respectively. Ireland’s Sean Doggett finished seventh in 47.16.
The win makes it six gold medals over the last three European U20 championships for Ireland and Kelly, who took bronze at last year’s European U18s, spoke of his delight at the win.
“This is a dream come true, it’s really special,” he said.
“The lactic acid has really sunk in now, it was a tough race.
“Last season hurt, this season had to be special. That bronze was like a dagger and it’s been sitting there all season, but I’ve finally pulled it out. I’ve dreamt about this every minute of every day since then.”
There was an agonising fourth-place finish for Louth’s Precious Akpe-Moses in the 200m final, but did help the women’s 4x100m relay team reach Sunday’s final.
The women’s 400m relay team missed out on a place in the final with a sixth-place finish, while fourth was not good enough for the men’s 400m team to advance.
