Carroll and Cragg set for Euro indoors

MARK CARROLL is almost certain to take his place alongside Alastair Cragg in the 3,000m at the European Indoor Championships in Madrid next month and will also take part in the BUPA Great Ireland Run on April 19.

Cragg and Carroll lead the current European indoor rankings since Boston a week ago, when Cragg won the 3,000m at the Reebok Indoor Games in 7:39.89; 24 hours earlier Carroll won the 3,000m at the Boston Invitational in 7:46.60.

Now the pair will cross paths for the first time in Arkansas, home to Cragg since he joined University of Arkansas, when they line up at the Tyson Invitational in Fayateville.

“I will make a decision after that race about Madrid but I would like to go and I have been talking to the federation (AAI),” Carroll said yesterday.

He was speaking after another spectacular performance in Boston on Saturday when he won the indoor mile in 4:01.46, holding off fellow Irishman Liam Reale from Limerick, who posted a personal best time of 4:01.53.

Colin Costello raised eyebrows at the weekend when he opted for the big indoor meeting in Ghent instead of defending his national indoor 1,500m title in Nenagh.

His decision turned out to be the right one as he knocked three seconds off his national junior record in finishing ninth in 3:46.17 behind the Kenyan sensation, Daniel Kipchirchir Komen, who set a new world junior indoor record at 3:35.61.

Paul Brizzell also opted for Ghent and finished second in the 200m in 21.32. Deirdre Ryan, who is studying in Brussels, was excused from the national indoor championships and competed in Ghent, where she finished fourth in the women’s high jump (1.86m).

Jer O’Donoghue, who was 100th of a second off qualification for the European indoor championships when winning the 60m title on Sunday in Nenagh, will take his quest for the mark to Genoa today.

For Madrid, the men’s 400m sees the full quota of Irish athletes, led by the talented David Gillick, whose season’s best of 47.28 sees him ranked eighth in Europe for 2005.

Paul Hession and Brizell make a formidable duo in the 200m, with every chance one, if not both, could make the final.

Leevale pair Ailish McSweeney and Derval O’Rourke are the sole female qualifiers so far, while UCD’s Deirdre Ryan could make history by becoming the first Irish female field eventer to make a major championship indoor final in the high jump.

Preliminary Madrid selections: Ailish McSweeney (Leevale) 60m; Derval O’Rourke (Leevale) 60m Hurdles; Deirdre Ryan (UCD) High Jump 1.90; Paul Hession (Athenry) 200m; Paul Brizell (Ballymena & Antrim) 200m; David Gillick (DSD) 400m; David McCarthy (Le Cheile) 400m; Robert Daly (DSD) 400m; Alistair Cragg (Clonliffe Harriers) 3000m.