Seamus Derbyshire pleased to show he belongs on European stage

Seamus Derbyshire is glad he finally showed that he belongs to the big stage that is the European Championships in Munich, following the 400m hurdles semifinals. The Stoke hurdler finished fourth in his semifinal heat with a time of 49.63s, just behind European bronze medalist Thomas Barr of Ireland, which was only good enough for 15th in the overall standings. Ad He said: «I think I did a lot better than I did yesterday in the heats, which was what I wanted to.

AthleticsMore to come from Caudery despite seventh-placed finish at EuropeansAN HOUR AGO »If I did that mistake again, I would have had too much ground to pick up. I was really happy with how I set it up. «I just tried to work off Tom on the home straight, so I finished strong again.» These championships marked the senior Team GB debut for Derbyshire who enjoyed a stellar junior career which included a silver European U20 medal back in 2019.

«This was a super positive experience. It showed me I can compete with these guys,» he added. «The guys that I have been looking up to for years.

I'm like, you're one of them now. »It's so nice to like be on this stage and feel like I belong here. I'm not just here to make up the numbers." The 22-year-old star was not the only Brit of the semis as 2019 British champion Jacob Paul finished 10th just missing out on the final with a time of 49.48s.

Derbyshire raced in the first semi-final heat and was provisionally in the final as a fastest loser and experienced the controversial «hot seats» concept. «Hot seats» were first presented in the previous European championships in Berlin and have been criticised by athletes such as Dina Asher-Smith and Ojie Edoburun in previous years. However, Derbyshire saw this concept from a