Olympic medal hopes locally now lie with a horse called Kilkenny

Local hopes of an Olympic medal lie with a horse called Kilkenny today.

The nine year old grey gelding bred by the Brennan family in Gowran goes in the individual jumping qualifiers later this morning with Cian O’Connor on board.

The action starts at 11am and O’Connor is 25th out of 73 competitors in the arena.

Only 30 will qualify for tomorrow nights final.

Earlier this morning on the track Carlow athlete Marcus Lawler ran a seasonal best finishing in 6th in his 200 metres heat but it wasn’t enough to advance to the semi finals.

Yesterday Sam Watson and the Irish eventing team finished up in 8th position.