Cian Crampton threw a personal best of 59.32m to win a bronze medal for Team Ireland in the Boy’s Discus on the final day of competition at the European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) in Maribor.
In the qualifiers last Thursday, Edenderry’s Crampton threw a personal best on his first throw, achieving automatic qualification for the final.
His first throw in Saturday’s final was another personal best of 58.32m. This placed him in second place in the opening round of six throws. Over the following rounds, the Hungarian, Zsombor Dobo pushed him to third, and with two throws to go, Crampton dropped to fourth place, following a huge performance from David Jarolimek (CZE).
On his fifth throw, the Irish thrower moved back into the medal positions, throwing a metre further than his previous best, with 59.32m.
His final effort was disqualified, but he had done enough to secure the bronze medal, with France’s Samuel Conjungo-Taumhas taking gold.
Crampton said of the competition:
“I knew I had to go for it if I wanted anything, and I did, and I got the result I wanted. The last one that hit the cage I knew it would have gone out further, I could feel it, but it’s in the cage now anyway.”
Discussing his medal success, the second Ireland won at this edition of the EYOF, the Offaly native admitted:
“I’m ecstatic, to say the least. I knew I could do it all along, but going out and doing it is the hardest thing. I have seen in training that I can do those numbers and being able to do it in a competition is something else. To be able to do it for the whole Irish team and everyone else is just amazing.”
“I knew I had to do something to get it. I told my mother a few weeks ago that I would get a medal for her, and now I have, and I’ve made her very proud I think.”
Since 1991 Team Ireland has won 72 medals at the EYOF.
The next edition of the EYOF will be in Skopje, North Macedonia, in the summer of 2025.
