Bronze medal for Offaly's Cian at European Youth Olympics

Edenderry’s Cian Crampton threw a personal best of 59.32m in the discus event to win a bronze medal for Team Ireland on the final day of competition at the European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) in Slovenia on Saturday.

Crampton had not shied away from his medal goal and confidently embraced the challenge of taking on the best in Europe. In the qualifiers last Thursday, Crampton threw a personal best on his first throw, achieving automatic qualification for the final.

His first throw in the final was another personal best, with 58.32. This placed the Edenderry AC athlete 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, Crampton moved back into the medal positions, throwing a metre further than his previous best, with 59.32m, and moving in front of Dobo again.

His final throw was disqualified, but he had done enough to secure the bronze medal, with France’s Samuel Conjungo-Taumhas taking gold.

Coached by Peter Collins, after his competition, Crampton said: “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.”

Crampton was thrilled to take Ireland’s second medal of the Games, and the first medal in athletics,

“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," said Cian.

"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.”

Dedicating the medal to his mother who travelled to Maribor to watch him compete, the Offaly man said: “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.”

Team Ireland's other medal at the Games was the silver won by cyclist Conor Murphy.

Crampton had led Team Ireland into the competition as a Permanent TSB flagbearer in the opening ceremony, an honour that has filled him with pride.

“Being a flagbearer was such a great honour for my country, I didn’t think I’d ever get a chance to hold a flag for my country like that,” he said.