Gareth Turnbull made further indication of his exciting potential when taking the silver medal over 1,500 metres at the 21st World University Games in Beijing yesterday.

The 22-year-old Belfast student, who is based at Loughborough University in England, became only the fifth Irish athletics medal winner ever in the increasingly competitive championships.

After finishing seventh in the 1999 edition of the event, Turnbull already had the experience behind him, but he had struggled with his form earlier in the season, finishing down the field in the European under-23 championships in July and then missing out through illness on completing his quest to compete at the World Championships in Edmonton.

The race in Beijing went almost exactly to plan. Spain's Juan Carlos Esteso was the fastest man in the field and took the gold as expected in three minutes 43.98 seconds. But Turnbull put his strong finish to good use, coming from fifth to second over the final 200 metres to finish in 3:44.21.

That was enough to edge out Alexis Abraham of France (3:44.48), and the fancied American Michael Stember, who took fourth in 3:44.91.

"I knew it would be tactical," said Turnbull, "but maybe if I had gone a little earlier I might have been able to catch the Spaniard. Still, I'm on the podium and that's where every athlete wants to be."

It was clearly Turnbull's greatest achievement to date, and only afterwards at the post-race press conference did the significance of his achievement begin to sink in.

Sonia O'Sullivan launched her international career when winning the 1,500 metres back in 1991, the same year Niall Bruton won gold. Other Irish athletics medallists were Nicky Sweeney in the discus in 1993 and Ron Delaney over 800 metres back in 1961.

But there was further disappointment for James Nolan, who was hoping to reverse his poor show in the 1,500 metres Edmonton.

Like Turnbull, he sat in the bunch in the early stages and briefly took the lead but then faded on the last lap and walked off the track with some 100 metres remaining, clearly suffering from a major lack of form and complaining of stomach problems.

Things went similarly bad for Colin Griffin in the 20km walk. The athlete from Ballinamore, Leitrim and a son of former BLE President Padraig Grifffin, was clearly out of his depth when coming home last of the 19 finishers.

The gold medal there went to Italy's Lorenzo Civallero in 1:24.42. Griffin's time of 1:37.47 was nine minutes outside his best.