Thomas Barr is targeting a final berth in the 400m hurdles at his maiden World Athletics Championships in Beijing at the end of this month.

Mark English has vowed not to allow his disappointing 800m performance at last night’s Cork City Sports meet affect his European U23 championships gold medal bid.

Athletics: Kilkenny City Harriers’ Cliodhna Manning was the star performer at the GloHealth National Junior and U23 Championships in Tullamore, winning the women’s U23 200m in a new personal best of 23.94 seconds.

The Leevale Sports showcased some of Ireland’s best talent on Saturday with Marcus Lawler leading the way, clocking 21.14 seconds in the 200m, while Matthew Behan broke the national junior record in the 110m hurdles.

Brian Nugent scratches his head and tries to tot up the number of days he has spent abroad with Irish cyclists this year — but can only offer a very rough estimate. “A lot,” he eventually settles for.

Ireland’s Elite boxers, for the third time in the last three years, finished in second spot in rankings table behind powerhouses Russia at the European Championships.

Ireland’s boxers are on the brink of a gold rush at the 40th European Championships in Belarus.

Robert Heffernan was a frustrated figure after his ninth place finish in 1:23:26 over 20km at the European Cup of Race Walking in Dudince, Slovakia yesterday as he took a heavy fall at 12km when in contention.

An Irish team of eight, headed by double European Cross-Country Champion Fionnuala Britton and Europe’s fastest man over 400m this year so far, Brian Gregan, have been pre-selected for next week’s European Indoor Athletics Championships in Gothenburg.

Jessie Barr and her brother Tom will have an eye on Olympic qualification when they line up for their respective first round heats of the 400m hurdles at the European track and field championships in Helsinki today.

JOE SWEENEY strengthened his stranglehold on the domestic cross-country scene when he produced another powerful front-running display to retain his Woodies DIY inter-counties title at Sligo Racecourse yesterday.

DCU’s Brian Gregan put the finishing touch to a spectacular season when he set a new personal best of 45.96 seconds in the final of the men’s 400m at the World University Games in Shenzhen, China.

PAUL HESSION returned to the scene of his fastest run to claim his place in the 200m at next year’s Olympic Games in London.

CIARÁN Ó LIONÁIRD (Leevale), fresh from his sensational 1,500m run in Oordegem, Belgium, will contest the 800m at this weekend’s Woodies DIY national senior championships at Morton Stadium, Santry.

RUAIRI FINNEGAN (Letterkenny AC), a finalist at the world youths championships a couple of weeks ago, claimed the gold medal in the 1,500m at the European Youth Olympics in Trabzon, Turkey, yesterday.

CIARA MAGEEAN (City of Lisburn) kept Irish athletics in the headlines after winning silver in the 1,500m at the European junior track and field championships in Tallinn yesterday.

THOMAS BARR (Ferrybank AC) set a new national junior record at 51.29 secs when winning his heat of the men’s 400m hurdles at the European junior track and field championships in Tallinn yesterday.

FOLLOWING medal successes at the world youth and European U23 championships, Ciara Mageean (City of Lisburn) will be one of the favourites at the women’s European junior 1,500m final in Tallinn on Thursday morning.

BRIAN GREGAN took his career to anew level with asilver medal in the men’s 400m at the European U23 championships with a new personal best time of 46.12 secs in Ostrava on Saturday.

THE men’s 800m could provide the highlight of this weekend’s IUAA (Inter-Varsities) championships hosted by Queen’s University Belfast where Darren McBrearty (DCU) renews rivalry with Niall Tuohy (UL).

LIAM HENNESSY, President of Athletics Ireland, was elected to the Council of European Athletics at the European Athletics Congress in London.

CLAIRE BRADY (Celbridge) will be back in action on Irish soil on Sunday when she lines up for the 100m at the Woodies DIY AAI Games, which return to Castleisland after a 10-year absence. The Games will include senior relays as well as Paralympic events and a Masters 3km team event.

OLIVE LOUGHNANE is ready for the race of her life in tomorrow morning’s women’s 20k walk in Beijing, according to coach Ray Flynn.

MULLINGAR clubmates Martin Fagan and Mark Christie could be reunited on the Irish cross-country team for the first time since 2001 when the squad for next month’s SPAR European Cross-Country Championships in Tilburg is announced.

Derval O'Rourke rounded off a poor night for Irish athletics at the World Championship in Paris' Stade de France, finishing last in her heat of the 100m hurdles.

KAREN SHINKINS, whose season turned around in recent weeks, took another major step back to form yesterday when she made it through to this evening’s semi-finals of the women’s 400.

AFTER years of hard grafting Cork’s Cathal Lombard has become an overnight success.

SONIA O’SULLIVAN finished 15th of 16 finishers in the 1,500m at the Grand Prix in Madrid on Sunday night, but it was a run that was totally out of context and there is no need to panic.

Two disqualifications marred the beginning of day three of the European U23 Athletics Championships in humid Bydgoszcz, Poland this morning.

SONIA O’SULLIVAN admitted yesterday she is taking longer than anticipated to get back on track ahead of the world championships in Paris next month.

SINCE her sensational victory as a 17 year old back in 1987, when she beat a star-studded field in the women’s 3,000m, Sonia O’Sullivan has been a star attraction at The Mardyke.