Griggs sets new 3,000m PB at Diamond League
- Published
County Tyrone athlete Nick Griggs secured a top-10 finish at the London Diamond League with another new Irish under-23 3,000m record.
The 19-year-old smashed his personal best by over five seconds with a time of 7:36.59.
It is the second time this month that Griggs has set a new personal best at the distance as he again bettered the previous Northern Ireland record set by Paul Lawther (7:49.10) in 1978.
Griggs had broken the Northern Ireland mark and Darragh McElhinney's previous Irish under-23 record in Cork on 9 July with a time of 7:41.68.
In between, he also improved his 5,000m personal best by over 23 seconds when clocking 13:13.07 at the Morton Games in Dublin.
The Tyrone talent's latest 3,000m performance moved him to fourth on the Irish all-time list - ahead of the legendary Eamonn Coghlan's 7:37.60 set a couple of weeks before the 1980 Olympics when he took victory at the Bislett Games.
Griggs' Diamond League run on Saturday came in a stacked men’s 3,000m which was ultimately won by Dominic Lokinyomo Lobalu of Switzerland in a meeting record of 7:27.68.
In the same race, Dubliner Brian Fay crossed the line in seventh with a time of 7:34.48 which moved him to third in the Irish all-time list behind Mark Carroll's national record of 7:30.36 set 25 years ago and Alex Cragg's 7:32.47 clocking in 2007.
Elsewhere in London on Saturday, Ireland's Rhasidat Adeleke posted a season best time of 22.35 in the women's 200m but, despite finishing just 0.01 seconds outside of her national record, came fifth in a race won by American Gabrielle Thomas in 21.82.
Andrew Coscoran finished eighth in the mile with his personal best of 3:50.49 seeing him jump to third on the all-time Irish list at the distance.