Thomas Barr's efforts to secure an Olympic medal in the men's 400m Hurdles ended in heartbreak this afternoon, as an agonising finish saw him miss out on the podium by five hundredths of a second.
The Waterford man finished strongly in the home straight, but despite an Irish record time of 47.97, his hopes of a first major championship medal were dashed.
The Ferrybank AC athlete had seen the man inside him in lane three disqualified for a false start, but there was no fear of such a fate befalling the Irishman; in fact, his first 250 metres were slow-and-steady in action, as he conserved his energy for the final dash to the line.
He closed in on, and came off, the last hurdle with incredible speed, but it wasn't enough to beat Turkish athlete Yasmani Capello to third spot. American Kerron Clement took the gold medal in 47.73 seconds, with silver going to Boniface Mucheru of Kenya.