The European Indoor Track and Field Championships commences in Torun, Poland on Thursday, March 4th with a very good Irish squad travelling and among them two Tipperary athletes Sharlene Mawdsley of Newport and our own Sean Tobin. Sharlene competes in the 400m while Sean competes in the 3000m.
The heats of the 3000m takes place on Saturday morning while the 3000m final takes place on Sunday. These Championships have attracted the largest entry ever with 733 athletes representing 47 countries in this, the 36th edition of these Championships. The entry list includes 17 current European indoor Champion including Marcin Lewandowski who is the current European Indoor 1500m and 3000m titles. He is defending both titles this year in his native country. Other athletes aiming for this double are the Ingebrigtsen brothers, Jacob and Filip from Norway, so a very competitive entry list.
Sean is part of a strong trio representing Ireland in the 3000m, along with John Travers of Donore Harriers and Darragh McElhinney of UCD in a race with an entry of 40 athletes representing 17 countries. Sean has been training well of late and now has a few Indoors races under his belt that has helped him to get racing fit for such a campaign. Indeed, there is only one day separating the 3000m heats and final, so stamina and endurance will be key allied with speed for such a campaign. Sean possesses them all.
Sean qualified for these finals when he achieved the standard by running a brilliant race in Metz earlier this month to win in a very good time of 7 mins 48.01 secs. Looking at the entry list, this time by Sean places him 12th out of the 40 athletes entered, however Championships races are a totally different kind of competition, one that Sean is well use to with his time in America and this year on the European circuit.
Sean will have learned a lot too from his last experience at the European Indoor Championships in Glasgow in 2019. There he again competed in the 3000m and in a hectic push to the finishing line he was edged out of a place in the final by 0.67 of a second by Sam Parsons of Germany, with Sean finishing in 7 mins 56.27 secs, a seasonal best by Sean in 2019. Sean has come a long way since then and we wish him and the rest of the Irish team the very best of luck in Torun.