McAnuff and O’Brien Wrap Up Tilburg Euros
Sean McAnuff (28) and Liam O’Brien (27) represented Ireland at the ISU European Short Track Speed Skating Championships this weekend in Tilburg, The Netherlands against the best skaters in Europe.
O’Brien got things under way for Team Ireland in the qualification rounds on the opening day of the event drawing Heat 3 of the 1500m quarterfinals. He made a move with seven laps to go and held the lead for a time before he was passed. He eventually finished in fourth place with a time of 2:29.578. McAnuff appeared in Heat 7 and was battling for third place for most of the race before being pipped into fourth place at the end with a time of 2:18.922. In the 500m heats, O’Brien started again in Heat 3 and he found himself trying to keep up with the eventual bronze medallist Melle van ‘t Wout of the Netherlands. Although O’Brien came fifth in the race, he managed to set a new personal best time of 42.016. In Heat 7, McAnuff had moved up into second place when he lost his footing and crashed into the barriers. He completed the course to come home in fifth in a time of 57.910. He had further misfortune in Heat 1 of the 1000m heats when stumbled at the start of the race and was playing catch up from then on. He rounded out the first day of racing with third place in a time of 1:35.737. In Heat 9 O’Brien was on course to come fifth when on the final lap mistakes from others allowed him to take advantage and move up to third place in a time of 1:27.178.
McAnuff and O’Brien faced the 1500m and 500m repechage rounds on the second day of the championships. In the 1500m repechage quarterfinals, O’Brien lined up in Heat 1 which turned out to be a game of cat and mouse until O’Brien made his move with five laps to go. He was passed by two other skaters on the final lap, but he hung on to come third in a time of 2:34.716 and claimed a place in the repechage semifinals. McAnuff had more bad luck in Heat 4 when he was moving up into second place and another skater made contact from behind. However he was advanced to the semifinals where he faced off against O’Brien in Heat 1. With only the winner proceeding to the afternoon’s main session it was a tactical race. When things heated up, neither of the Irish skaters quite had the pace and McAnuff finished 4th with O’Brien 5th in their respective times of 2:34.650 and 2:36.964 and an overall classification of 27th and 28th. Heat 2 of the 500m repechage quarterfinals had to go to a restart and O’Brien maintained his starting position of third from start to finish in a time of 42.596. He placed 31st overall for the distance. In Heat 3 McAnuff began in the very outside lane and raced hard to come third in 42.957. He was ranked 32nd for the distance.
On the last day of racing, McAnuff and O’Brien took on the 1000m repechage quarterfinals. McAnuff drew Heat 2 and placed fifth with a time of 1:29.280 and an overall distance placement of 36th to bring his sixth Europeans to a close. O’Brien followed in Heat 3 and weaved his way through the field until just before the final lap when he was impeded by another making a lane change from inside to out on the straight. O’Brien was then advanced to the repechage semifinals. In Heat 1 he jumped into the lead with seven laps to go before being passed with five laps remaining. He stayed in contention till the end and finished 3rd in a time of 1:31.366 ranking 23rd for the distance.
“I felt stronger before even if the execution wasn’t quite where I wanted it to be,” McAnuff said. “There are a lot of positives to take this championship and I’m excited to keep building on them.”
“It was a succesful weekend of racing,” O’Brien said. “While the outcome wasn’t what I wanted, I felt I was in control of every race and fought till the end.”
