Thomas Barr beat off stiff competition to claim gold in the 400m hurdles at the World University Games in Gwangju, South Korea.
Barr becomes the first Irish athlete to win a gold medal at the games since Sonia O’Sullivan raced to victory in the 1500m in 1991.
The University of Limerick student was made to work hard for his victory, however, with Algeria’s Abdelma Lahoulou pushing him all the way.
The Irishman started strongly, keeping pace with the field and began to hit his stride after the fourth hurdle.
From there the 22-year-old looked strong rounding the bend and held off competition from Lahoulou and Russia’s Ivan Shablyuev.
Into the home straight Lahoulou pushed ahead slightly, but it was Barr who had enough in reserve to mount a final challenge and secure gold.
The Ferrybank clubman finished in a time of 48.78 seconds, just off the Irish record of 48.65 seconds that Barr ran in the Rome Diamond League last month
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