Nenagh's White aiming to make Euro impact

By Cóilín Duffy

 

Nenagh athlete Paul White will make his international senior debut for Ireland at the upcoming European Games in Minsk later this month.

White was a part of the Irish squad for the European Under 23 Championships two years ago, but didn't race, so he's looking forward to featuring properly for Ireland this time around.

“For the first one there wasn't really a proper athletics team put together for it, so as far as athletics goes this is the first one and I'm absolutely thrilled to be a part of it,” he told the Guardian.
White confesses he wasn't too aware of the competition until recent months, and spent most of the early part of 2019 tied up with a hamstring injury picked up just before a training camp in Tenerife in January, which he says 'played with my head' more than anything else.

White says the European Games is new for all concerned such is the unorthodox nature of the event. He's unsure what to really expect.

“It's hard to know because it's such a new thing and it's not a standard competition. There's no heat's; semi's; finals. You don't just run your own race, you are in it as a team. It's this new format of athletics called 'dynamic new athletics'. You are in it as a team, and your team progresses depending on how you do each day. You score points.

“The event that I am in is called the pursuit and that's like a mixed medley relay based on how your team is doing. If our team isn't doing too well the other teams will get a head start and we'll have to try and catch them.

“It's trying to bring a bit of excitement. I think our team is strong enough. There's a good few less experienced athletes, and I'm probably one of them as well. I think the team is strong and we are definitely level with a lot of other European countries, with the likes of Great Britain and some of the other Eastern European countries always going to be leaps ahead of us, but that's just the way it is at the moment.

“I think we are definitely in with a shout of getting a good few runs in.”

 

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