Athletics:Paul Hession produced a sensational display when he bettered his own Irish 100 metres record to claim second place at the European Cup Super League 'A' match in Vaasa today.
Hession flew to a time of 10.18 seconds which struck one hundredth of a second from his early season performance and thrilled Irish fans at the Finnish venue.
The 24-year-old Galway sprinter, though, failed to match the pace of winner Guus Hoogmoed of the Netherlands who clocked 10.15secs with the wind a fraction below the permitted two metres per second.
But his display was another indication that he is progressing in the right direction to establish himself as one of Europe's top performers.
Hession said: "My coach and I were watching the wind readings in the warm-up races.
"We really felt that it would be possible to have a go at the record but expected it would be around 10.19 or 10.20.
"This is just fantastic — everything was in my favour, the conditions, temperature of 25 degrees and a very fast track."
There were other good displays from the Irish men, although David Gillick was surprisingly beaten over 400m by 200m specialist Johan Wissman.
Sweden's 200m European silver medallist scorched to a time of 45.77sec to finish well clear of the Euro indoor champion who clocked 46.24.
Dave Campbell was also a solid second over 1500m, with Martin Fagan running an able race to finish third in the 5000m.
Joanne Cuddihy took second in her 400m race in a time of 52.81 behind British rival Lee McConnell while the 4x100m relay team clocked 45.14 to finish third well behind Britain and Finland.
The end of the first day's competition saw the men lying fifth overall with the women occupying sixth position.