Thomas Barr and Michelle Finn turned in two stunning performances at the Paavo Nurmi Games in Turku, Finland, last night, with both securing automatic qualification for the Tokyo Olympics. Barr clocked 48.39 to beat Estonia’s Rasmus Magi, his fastest ever time for 400m hurdles outside a championship and his quickest since 2018.

“I wasn’t expecting that,” said Barr. “I thought if everything went right, 48-mid was where I was at but I’ve felt my rhythm come back quickly and I felt really strong over the last few hurdles. It was a brilliant race. Normally I’m only warming up at this time of year. Since Rio the 400m hurdles has gotten a lot harder, but in an Olympic final, or in any major championship final, anything can happen so if I’m there or thereabouts I’ll be ready to mop up the spillage.”

Finn turned in the performance of her life in the 3,000m steeplechase, the 31-year-old Cork athlete taking nine seconds off her best to finish second in 9:29.25. It moved her second on the Irish all-time list and was one second outside Róisín McGettigan’s national record.

“I definitely thought I could run under 9:30 but I never knew when I could do it and I was like, ‘Please, just do it before the Olympics,’” she said. “I’m so happy I finally ran the time I knew I should be running for ages.”

Nadia Power was disappointed with fifth in the women’s 800m, the Dubliner clocking 2:02.10. Meanwhile in Prague, Louise Shanahan had a strong run over 800m, clocking 2:01.99 to finish third with fellow Irishwoman Georgie Hartigan just behind in fourth with 2:02.13.