![\"Lauren](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/586d088e-abdc-41ad-835a-92f6b0af1ab2.jpg\")
<\/p>\nGriggs came home ninth in the 3000m at the World Indoor Championships in Torun, Poland, clocking 7:39.03, while his Irish teammate Andrew Coscoran had a race to forget, finishing 13th of the 15 athletes in 7:43.89.<\/p>\n
Gold went to Britain\u2019s Josh Kerr, the 2023 world 1500m champion who put on a tactical masterclass to outsmart chief rival and reigning Olympic and world champion Cole Hocker.<\/p>\n
While Hocker loitered several metres behind, boxed in, as they entered the final lap, Kerr chose the opportune moment to strike for home, reaching the finish in 7:35.56, with Hocker finishing fast to take silver in 7:35.70, the Briton unveiling the same \u2018night-night\u2019 celebration that the US athlete did when beating him earlier in the season.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt least come up with your own celebration,\u201d said Hocker. \u201cI\u2019ll remember that one though, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
After a steady early pace, Griggs and Coscoran had both been in touch with the leaders, even if they were well down the field, until the gears really started to turn with two laps to run, but neither had the gears then to go with the men out front. Still, it was a decent showing for Griggs in his first world final.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just wasn\u2019t close enough when the bell hit,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s my responsibility, especially indoors. I felt like there was a bit more there. Top-10 in the world, I don\u2019t want to be too down, it\u2019s an experience and something I can build on, 100 per cent.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t feel that comfortable, (those) lads are just too good, I just have to accept that. But it\u2019s just more fuel for me to come back in future years. It\u2019s frustrating because it\u2019s not a bad run, you\u2019re just left wanting, and that can only be positive for me going forward. The indoor season was never going to be my peak this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, Lauren Roy came home sixth in her semi-final of the women\u2019s 60m, her time of 7.23 not enough to advance. \u201cThere\u2019s so much more to come,\u201d said Roy, a student at Tarleton State University in Texas.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was great, that race was definitely a lot better put together than the heat and I\u2019m a lot more satisfied with it. I could go faster, but I\u2019m delighted.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Lauren Roy of Ireland, centre, competes in the women’s 60m final in Torun, Poland. Photo: Sam Barnes\/Sportsfile<\/p>\n
Mark English faced heartbreak in the semi-finals of the men\u2019s 800m, the 33-year-old leading with a lap to go but not having enough to secure one of the top-two qualifying spots, with victory going to Australia\u2019s Peter Bol in 1:46.21 and English coming home fourth in 1:46.70.<\/p>\n
The Irish team lodged an appeal after the race, looking for English to be advanced to the final due to an incident involving him and Japan\u2019s Allon Tatsunami Clay on the second lap, but the Jury of Appeal rejected it.<\/p>\n
English has made five senior finals in his career \u2013 all at European level \u2013 and won medals in all five, but falling short of a global senior level has been a continued source of frustration, and this may well have been his best chance.<\/p>\n
Ciara Neville, meanwhile, was frustrated after falling short of her PB of 7.27 in the 60m heats, the Limerick woman clocking 7.31 to finish fourth and bow out. Maeve O\u2019Neill made a bold bid to make the 800m final but in the end, the Cork woman came up short, finishing sixth in her semi-final in 2:02.46.<\/p>\n
Kate O\u2019Connor and Sarah Lavin will carry Ireland\u2019s hopes on Sunday. O\u2019Connor is looking to win a medal at her fifth straight championships while Lavin is hoping to reach her third world indoor final in the 60m hurdles.<\/p>\n
World heptathlon champion Anna Hall is the heavy favourite for the women\u2019s pentathlon and could well surpass 5000 points for the second time in her career, though O\u2019Connor looks primed to get closer than ever before to the US superstar.<\/p>\n
World Indoor Championships: Live, Virgin Media Two, 8.55am\/4.30pm<\/p>\n
Irish in action, Sunday (all times Irish)<\/p>\n
Kate O\u2019Connor: pentathlon 60m hurdles, 9.05am; high jump, 9.43am; shot put 12.21pm; long jump, 4.40pm; 800m, 7.03pm<\/p>\n
Sarah Lavin, women\u2019s 60m hurdles heats,11.55am; *semi-final, 5.51pm; *final, 6.38pm<\/p>\n
*Pending qualification<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Griggs came home ninth in the 3000m at the World Indoor Championships in Torun, Poland, clocking 7:39.03, while…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":358468,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,898,112],"class_list":["post-358467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-latest-news-ticker","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=358467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358467\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/358468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=358467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}