'I’m going to give it my best shot' - Thomas Barr considers going out on a high in Paris
LOW BARR: Team Ireland Olympian and 400m hurdler Thomas Barr, alongside from left, Nathan Hunt, aged 10, Kate Culhane, aged 6, Niamh Jones, aged 7, Noah Gray, aged 9, Ciara Culhane, aged 9, and Ciara Jones, aged 9. Picture: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile
It’s best not to call it a swansong, at least not yet, but as Thomas Barr gears up for an Olympic year he knows he’s heading into the home straight of his career.
“I’m thinking, ‘this is the last rough winter I’ll have to go through,’” he says. “But I’m leaving the door open (to continue in 2025). I’m not calling it my final year just yet, but I’d be very happy to walk away at the end of this year and leave it at that, depending on how it goes. I could end up ending on a very high note or on another injury or low note, but I’m going to give it my best shot and then see where we stand.” What might life look like after athletics? For Barr, there’s both anticipation and uncertainty.
“There’s excitement to go down that path and lead a normal life, to do the things I can’t do now. But there is a part of me that’s apprehensive, because it’s been such a huge part of my life for so long. I’m going to miss it. I’ll miss being part of the athletics community as an athlete.”
Barr will turn 32 just before the Paris Games, which would be his third Olympics, and he’s keen to improve the Irish 400m hurdles record of 47.97 he ran to finish fourth at the Rio Games in 2016. He knows it’s possible. At the Tokyo Olympics two years ago, Barr was on course for something special in his semi-final until he clattered the seventh barrier, a mistake that occurred due to him moving at a speed he’d never experienced in his specialist event.
Despite almost hitting the deck, he clocked the second quickest time of his career, 48.26, to miss the final by one, agonising spot. As much as it stung, there was solace in the stopwatch, his touchdown time at the seventh barrier indicating he was on course to run “mid-47” if he’d avoided that error.
“That race gives me savage confidence. A lot of talk after Rio was: was it a one off? But in the Olympic semi-final, I nearly went out and replicated (that), only I hit a hurdle. It showed me I am a championship performer, my best will come out in championships. I was in the shape to run well (in Tokyo) if I hadn’t messed it up.” The years since haven’t brought better fortunes, an achilles tendon injury in May last year leaving him way off his best at the World Championships in Oregon. This year, Barr tore his calf shortly before the World Championships in Budapest, forcing him to stay home. What hurt even more was seeing a time of 48.39 make the world final – something he’s yet to do – while 47.56 won bronze.
“It was a tough one to take because I know if I’d have been there, I’d have been in with a shout of getting to that final.” Barr was hammering away on the watt bike in UL during the championships, in front of the one TV in the university gym that was showing the athletics. “So I couldn’t avoid it,” he laughs.
He got back racing in September, clocking 51.07 in his sole outing, and went back into winter training with a clean bill of health. His fitness is ahead of where it usually is come the start of December, even if the years and the mileage are making their presence felt. “The body is definitely telling me to take a step back, but at the moment I’m going to ignore it, give it one more year, and see how it goes.”
Barr did his first hurdling session of this training block on Wednesday and his knees, ankles and calves were all “a little ropey”, but he takes comfort in hearing the same complaints from younger training partners. If all goes well over the next several months, he’ll likely open his outdoor season at the World Relays in The Bahamas in May and Barr would love to line up on the Irish mixed relay team at the Paris Olympics, with one day off after that final before the 400m hurdles begins. “I’ll give it my best shot,” he says.
