After injury curtailed Ciarán Ó Lionáird's 2012 season, preparations for the London Olympics were massively disrupted for the Irish athlete as he left the Olympic Stadium a dispirited man. Since then, it has been a rebuilding process and, finding consistent fitness this year, hopes were high for the Cork runner going into this summer's European Championships in Zurich.
However, it was a disastrous end to the event for Ó Lionáird as he lost his footing in the 1500m final and bowed out prematurely. Tonight, on Off the Ball, he reflected upon that fall.
"I’m still pretty disappointed obviously. I think that one’s going to sit with me for a while. It’s a different kind of disappointment," Ó Lionáird revealed.
The biggest source of that disappointment for the 26 year-old lies in the fact that everything seemed to be falling into place for a medal finish, particularly having avoided injury for a substantial period.
"When you feel like you've done everything right in terms of coming back from, you know, a lot of setbacks and obviously in the race to try and execute the tactics that your coach set out for you and try and do the best you can and when something happens it’s unfortunate so I can’t really look back on anything and say ‘what should I have done different?’ I thought I really did everything I could and it just didn’t work out on the day."
The race, which was eventually won by the infamous Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad, was 800 metres in when a collision occurred that grounded Ó Lionáird.
"It happened so quickly that it’s really difficult in the heat of the moment to understand kind of to know what’s going on.
"I just remember getting clipped and like stumbling and losing my momentum and then as I tried to regain my momentum and get back on an even keel again, I got hit again from behind and then I landed awkwardly on my right leg and just felt a jarring pain out from my calf, upper calf and into my lower hamstring just behind the knee."
You can listen to the full interview with Joe Molloy and Derval O'Rourke below.
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