Thomas Barr fell just a step short of automatically qualifying for his third Olympics in the 400m hurdles when finishing second at the Continental Tour meeting in Bydgoszcz on Thursday evening, his time of 48.79 seconds just outside the Paris standard of 48.70.
However, he will take a leap in his ranking points, pushing him inside the event quota of 40 athletes, and with that of course to make Paris, eight years after finishing fourth in his debut Olympics in 2016 just .05 away from bronze.
Matheus Lima from Brazil, who ran a new lifetime best of 48.31, took the win, booking his place for Paris in the process.
For Barr, who turns 32 two days before the Olympics begin, the National Championships on Sunday week will afford him the chance to seal further ranking points ahead of the June 30th cut off, and he’s also likely to travel to Paris as part in the 4x400m mixed relay having played a key role in the gold medal performance at the European Championships in Rome earlier this month, running the third le
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