Louise Shanahan and Thomas Bridger earn national athletics titles

Louise Shanahan and Thomas Bridger earned national titles last weekend.

Cambridge University student Louise Shanahan, who is at Trinity College, produced a classy display to win the 800m at the 150th Irish Athletics Championships at the Morton Stadium in Dublin.

She kicked for victory in the home straight to earn a second national title, and said: “My plan was to get out hard for the first 200m and my usual race plan, sit and kick, and the others were having none of it, no-one wanted to go past me.

“But it worked out well for me because I felt like I had the perfect position and while technically I was leading, I don’t think I was expending too much energy – that first lap wasn’t fast.

“I’m absolutely delighted with that. This year has been a bit different for me, I’ve never come into the nationals as favourite before.

“This time last year, I arrived hoping I might squeeze onto the team for the Olympics and I was delighted when I did.

“Twelve months later, it’s a very different nationals for me, coming in as defending champion and record holder.

“I’m really excited for the summer ahead.”

Shanahan will be heading to the World Athletics Championships in Oregon and the European Athletics Championships in Munich this summer.

Cambridge & Coleridge AC Bridger was in action at the Muller UK Athletics Championships in Manchester and set a championship record when winning the men’s under-20 3,000m title.

He was one of a handful of athletes in contention for gold going around the final bend, but held the inside line to race away for victory in a personal best 8min 18.10sec.

Bridger will now be looking to achieve the world under-20 championships qualifying standard of 8.10 in the coming weeks.

C&C’s Tom Keen finished eighth in a top-class men’s 1,500m final, clocking 3min 45.99sec.