The Irish athletics medal rush continues with Nicola Tuthill winning the silver medal in the hammer on the final day of action at the World University Games in Germany.
The 21-year-old from Bandon in Cork displayed all her competitive spirit inside the Lohrheidestadion in Bochum, saving her best throws for the last three rounds, including a final effort of 69.98 metres.
That was enough to earn Tuthill the silver medal behind Jie Zhao from China, who last summer won the Olympic bronze medal in Paris. Zhao was the only woman to exceed 70m, her best of 72.80m also coming with her last throw.
Representing UCD, where she’s studying teaching, Tuthill’s silver medal comes four days after Kate O’Connor produced another groundbreaking display by winning gold in the heptathlon, a first multi-event medal for Ireland in the long history of the championships, and only the fifth gold medal for Ireland in the sport of athletics at this level.
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Last Friday week, Tuthill also won the silver medal at the European Under-23 Championships in Bergen, Norway, throwing a best of 70.90m on that occasion. The gold medal in Bergen went to Aileen Kuhn from Germany, but she had to settle for fifth in Bochum, with her best of 67.02. Sara Sofia Killinen from Finland won bronze with a best of 67.80.
Tuthill’s silver medal in Bergen last weekend was among the five medals won by Ireland. Anika Thompson won gold in the 10,000m and bronze in the 5,000, Nick Griggs took silver in the 5,000m, and Eimear Maher also took bronze in the 1,500m. It makes for seven Irish athletics medals won in the last nine days alone.
Earlier this season, Tuthill also won the under-23 hammer gold at the European Throwing cup in Nicosia, Cyprus, a first Irish title in that event, which has been running since 2001.
Irish women’s hammer record holder Eileen O’Keeffe also won silver at the World University Games back in 2007, with O’Keeffe’s Irish record of 73.21m the obvious target for Tuthill over the coming years. Tuthill’s lifetime best is 71.71m, which she threw last month in Finland to move second on the Irish all-time list.
O’Connor improved her own Irish heptathlon record to 6,487 points at these World University Games, leaving her ranked fourth in the world this season, adding to her pentathlon bronze medal in the European Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn, and then silver on the World Indoor stage in Nanjing, China
Her next competition will be the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo in September. Tuthill has also qualified in the hammer. Both athletes will compete at next weekend’s Irish Track and Field Championships in Santry, O’Connor focusing on the javelin this time as one of her favoured individual events.
