Griggs continues impressive comeback with Euro silver medal

NICK Griggs continued his comeback from serious injury in style when he produced a gutsy run at the European Under-23 Championships where he won a silver medal in the 5000 metres.

The Newmills man hit the front early in the race and led convincingly until, with 800m left to run, event favourite Dutchman Niels Laros took up the lead with Griggs still on his shoulder before kicking home with 150m left to run.

Laros crossed the line just over a second ahead of Griggs in a time of 13:45.80, with Will Barnicoat of Great Britain taking the bronze in 13:46.11.

While pleased to have finished in the medal positions, 20-year-old Griggs admitted that he was in two minds about taking the race out as that was a risky move.

“I was hemming and hawing all week about how I was going to take it out and I think we decided this morning that I was going to take it out,” he revealed.

“It’s hard to make someone of the calibre of Niels (Laros) really hurt over the last few laps so that was kind of my intention.

“I was kind of risking losing the medal to go and get the win, but I was willing to do that to be honest.”

As delighted as he was to medal, Griggs joked afterwards that he’s amassing quite a number of silvers in his six European Championship medals collection!

Having previously won gold at the European Under-20 Championships, winning gold in the 3000m in Tallinn in 2021 as a 16-year-old, he then claimed silver over the same distance in Jerusalem two years later. The Candour Track Club runner collected a silver medal in the European Cross-Country Championships in Yurin in 2022, to go with team runner-up finishes in the same year and in 2021 in Dublin.

Last year he achieved the same feat in the under-23 race in Antalya in December but his efforts were subsequently severely impacted by a serious knee issue that saw him miss out on the indoor season during his seven months of treatment and subsequent recovery.

“I’ve won so many silvers and here is another one!,” he joked.

“I’m happy enough. I’ve had a strange year, I’ve not really had much of a season so far, so I was coming in fresh, I was feeling good.

“I didn’t have the confidence when I had the gap to completely go for it and maybe if I had run a really fast 5K and the ideal season and prep I could have done.

“But I think, I did my best, I risked it by being at the front against probably the best field I’ve raced in a champs like this. It was a stacked field, so to come away with silver in the way that I ran – some people may call me stupid for going to the front and doing what I did but I wanted to come out and at least give them something to think about.

“I did my best at the end of the day and it just wasn’t enough again to come away with gold but when you have someone of the calibre of Niels, it’s always going to be tough. But I had to believe in myself and give myself a chance, an opportunity and I think I at least did that to the best of my ability.”

In the weeks before Griggs’ latest continental success, he won the 800 metres at the 123.ie National U20 and U23 Championships before setting a new Irish under-23 and Northern Ireland senior record over the mile at the Morton Games in a time of 3:52.42, both of which he felt gave him a much needed confidence boost ahead of his trip to Bergen over the weekend.

After his record-breaking run in the Morton Mile, he said: “I was happy enough. I definitely thought I was in the shape to go a little quicker.

“The main thing is I felt really, really good. Usually when I do 1500 metres, or miles, when I finish I’m nearly throwing up, I can barely jog. The lactic acid does something to me over that distance that it doesn’t over 3K or 5K, but this time I finished and felt class immediately.

“I felt unreal. It made me wonder if I could have gone a bit quicker or been a bit closer, but it showed me the sharpness is coming back and that was a real confidence boost.

“The time was good, I think I could go a lot quicker given a perfect race, so it was nice to get the confidence and the way I felt before and after it, along with a solid time, gave me the confidence I felt I needed going into the European’s.”