Thomas Barr fears being ‘nearly man’ in bid to secure place at Paris Olympics

With the deadline for eligible performances closing last Sunday night, Barr now sits 42nd, with 40 places available.

If all those ahead of him take up their place, Barr will miss out on the Games as an individual, but the 31-year-old is nonetheless expected to be confirmed as part of the mixed 4x400m relay squad.

Barr produced a dominant display to win his 12th national title in the men’s 400m hurdles on Sunday but fell short of the automatic Olympic qualifying standard of 48.70 when clocking 50.61.

“If I was coming out and it was just a national title at stake, I’d be very happy walking away but the race went about as badly as any race has gone all year and it was crunch time today,” he said.

“To be honest I completely messed up this weekend. I’ll probably fall outside the rankings but that’s the game. The margins are so fine. I’ve a feeling I’m going to be the nearly man.”

However, there was better news today for Kate O'Connor, Cathal Doyle, Luke McCann, Nicola Tuthill and Eric Favors, who are all set to secure a place after finishing inside the cutoff in their respective events.

Doyle is 43rd in the men's 1500m list with McCann 37th, with 45 spots available. O'Connor is also set to become an Olympian for the first time in the heptathlon as she now sits 23rd, with 24 spots available.

Tuthill, who threw 68.54m to win the national hammer throw title last weekend, is also now inside the quota, 31st of 32. Favors is also set to qualify, sitting 30th in the shot put rankings with 32 spots available.

Sophie Becker is just outside the quota in the women's 400m, sitting 52nd with 48 spots available, while Jodie McCann is another who'll be hoping for a number of athletes to decline their place, sitting 47th in the 5000m list, with 42 spots available.

After winning the national title on Sunday, she said she expects up to 10 athletes ahead of her not to take their place.

Ten Irish individual athletes had already qualified for the Games by hitting the automatic standard, along with two relay teams: the mixed 4x400m and women's 4x400m.

National federations have until midnight on Thursday to accept or reject places, with World Athletics set to publish the final qualifier list on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Athletics Ireland have selected a team of 35 athletes for the upcoming European Athletics Under-18 Championships in Banska Bystrica, Slovakia from July 18-21.

Ireland has enjoyed significant success at previous editions, most recently with Fintan Dewhirst taking silver in the 400m hurdles in 2022.

Other medallists included Gina Akpe Moses (100m silver in 2016), Molly Scott (100m hurdles bronze in 2016), Rhasidat Adeleke (200m gold in 2018), Sophie O’Sullivan (800m silver in 2018) and Sarah Healy (1500m and 800m gold in 2018).