By Damian Lawlor in Rieti
The depth of middle distance talent that Irish athletics clubs have unearthed in recent years is well illustrated by the selection headache that developed for the girls 800m for the 2026 European U18 Championships. European Athletics set the qualification standard at 2:12.80 but Athletics Ireland set the standard to make the Irish squad as a seemingly aggressive 2:09.50. A tough task. Well six young women met the challenge.
Still the two selected Isabelle Gaffney (West Waterford AC) and Tara-Rose Smith (Finn Valley AC) with personal bests of 2:06.10 and 2:07.63 respectively stood out from the pack. The soaring temperatures of a July morning in Rieti could have been a factor but in the heat of battle both Isabelle and Tara were up to the challenge.
Isabelle in heat one was the first of the Irish pair to toe the starting line. As usual the pace was red hot for the first 200m as the field fought for the optimal positions. Isabelle started in lane seven and wisely gradually moved in on the back straight and was able to position herself in third. However the race slowed dramatically and as the leader Britain’s Ezrah Harrold got the bell at 65 seconds Isabelle was boxed. The determined Waterford woman though managed to extricate herself deftly from the pack and by the back straight was on the leaders shoulder. The pace had not dramatically increased and it was only in the last 200m that Isabelle had to go through the gears. She matched Ezra’s all the way to the line and only .08 of a second seperated them on the line. Job done. Gaffney progresses to the semifinal.
A few minutes later Tara-Rose Smith was on the start line. She raced intelligently from the race start and by the 200m mark was well positioned on the leaders shoulder. Then Slovenia’s Maša Weber surged into the lead and gapped the field by ten metres or so. By the back straight the long striding Tara-Rose was in fifth and out of the three automatic qualifying spots. She did not panic and gradually made her way to the front and like Isabelle in the previous heat was on the leaders shoulder down the finishing straight. Her time of 2:08.72 looked like a controlled effort and augurs well for the upcoming semifinal tomorrow.