The Irish duo of Ciarán Ó Lionáird and Paul Robinson came away disappointed from the final of the men's 1500m at the European Championships after quite a bit of misfortune conspired to keep them outside the medals.
It was the athletics world public enemy no.1, Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad who came through to win the race having cut inside the leaders during the final lap of the race. Benabbad had his 3000m steeplechase title taken off him earlier in the week for disrobing before the end of the race and he caused controversy again with suggestions that his movement unfairly impeded his rivals who then began to tumble like dominos.
Paul Robinson did well to avoid the worst of the clash but he couldn't improve enough to sneak inside the medals, eventually crossing the line in 4th.
Earlier in the race Ciarán Ó Lionáird had been contesting the lead when it appeared he was spiked at the head of the pack. It was difficult to see what exactly happened but at the time of writing, the Irish team have lodged an official complaint which is waiting to be heard.
