Andy seventh in Men’s 5000m final and Laura eases through

Wednesday 17th August 2022

Andy Butchart took on Europe’s best once again in the Men’s 5000m final in Munich – and came home in seventh place.

Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen justified his pre-race status as favourite to take the gold.

Butchart was close to the front until the last two laps or so and then had to fight for every place as he finished in 13:31.47 as the best of the three GB and N representatives.

It was similar to his Commonwealth Games performance when he finished seventh in the Men’s 10,000m final in Birmingham.

‘It was hard, which I expected,’ said Andy.

‘I’m disappointed not to medal but that’s the way it is. I felt comfortable but I just didn’t have the legs to go with the move.

‘It’s annoying, seventh place again is beginning to feel like my unlucky number. Today it wasn’t quite there for me.’

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On Wednesday morning, Nick Percy finished fifth in his discus qualifying pool with a best throw of 61.26m.

It looked like giving him a decent chance of the final but nine athletes in the second pool threw bigger to ensure only the top three from Group A progressed.

‘It would have been the icing on the cake to make a second final of the year but it was not to be,’ said Nick.

‘My season has been incredible; four PBs after not throwing one for six years, making three championships.’

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Earlier on Tuesday, David Smith cleared 2.17,m as his best height in high jump qualifying but did not progress to the final.

It was a similar story to the Commonwealths and David expressed his disappointment.

‘I had a really good start to the season, and instead of going up, I had a few injuries at the wrong time and Covid, which interrupted my championship preparation.

‘I feel a bit unlucky, if you’d said at the start of the season that it would take 2.21 to make a final I would’ve been quite confident i could’ve done that. Disappointed and time to reflect.’

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On Tuesday morning, Laura Muir comfortably made it through to the Women’s 1500m final – the 20^th major final of her career (taking in Olympic, Worlds, European, Commonwealths and both indoors and outdoors).

Laura took the win in 4:06.40 and will be joined by fellow Brits Ellie Baker and Katie Snowdon.

‘I managed to end up at the front which I don’t normally do but I was getting clipped a bit, so I just wanted to stay out of trouble really and qualify safely,’ said Laura.

‘It has been a busy summer but in a way that’s a good thing because it has been a distraction, so I haven’t had much time to think about coming to another championships.

‘It’s really exciting to have another championship, so I hope it goes as well as the other two. I come into these championships as the reigning champion with the orange bib so I’d like to keep it that way. I’d very much love to do that but it is a very tough competition.’

Unfortunately, Nicole Yeargin went out of the Women’s 400m at the semi-final stage. Nicole clocked 52.09 for sixth place in the race, after being handed a ‘bye’ from the opening heats.

The American-based Scot admitted she is ‘exhausted’ now after competing at three Champs and having Covid after the Worlds and prior to the Commonwealths.

Tags: Andy Butchart, David Smith, European Championships, Laura Muir, Munich 2022, Nick Percy, Nicole Yeargin