Only two Irish athletes are taking part in the World Indoor Athletics Championships in Valencia over the coming days.

ROBERT HEFFERNAN faces his first big test of Olympic year when he lines up for the first leg of the IAAF Race Walking Challenge in Chihuahua, northern Mexico, on Saturday.

DERVAL O’ROURKE finally confirmed that she won’t be defending her 60m hurdles title at the World Championships in Valencia next week after a disappointing run in Tampere.

DERVAL O’ROURKE is ready for another big run in Leipzig on Sunday after her promising performance in Athens on Wednesday night when she finished fourth in the 60m hurdles in 8.09 secs.

DERVAL O’ROURKE will launch a belated build-up to the world championships at tomorrow night’s international indoor meeting in Athens.

FOR the second year in a row Kelly Proper (Ferrybank) set a new national long jump record at the Woodies DIY Indoor Championships of Ireland at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast where she retained her title with a best jump of 6.28 metres.

TWO years ago Ailish McSweeney shared a room with Derval O’Rourke when her Leevale clubmate won the 60m hurdles title at the world indoor championships in Moscow.

DERVAL O’ROURKE runs in the Grand Prix meeting in Budapest tonight — lining up against a strong field for the 100m hurdles in better conditions than she experienced at The Mardyke last weekend.

LAST year David Campbell made what might have seemed a disastrous financial decision — particularly for someone with a Masters Degree in Finance — when he sold up all his possessions and went to South Africa to pursue a career in athletics.

DERVAL O’ROURKE broke her national 100m hurdles record with a 12.92 secs run for fourth place at last night’s Grand Prix meeting in Lausanne with a promise of better to come at Friday night’s Golden Gala meeting in Rome.

IRELAND’S medal hopes in the 4 x 400m relay at the European championships in Gothenburg in a months time suffered a severe setback at the weekend when Rob Daly, who also has an individual qualifying standard, tore a calf muscle at the BUPA Cork City Sports.

DERVAL O’ROURKE will kick off her outdoor season at The Mardyke on Saturday, where she claims star billing at the BUPA Cork City Sports.

SONIA O’SULLIVAN will present the awards when the Irish Milers Club stages 1,500m races for men and women in conjunction with the Kit Kat Irish Schools Track and Field Championships in Tullamore tomorrow.

LIMERICK man Liam Reale added his name to the growing list of qualifiers for the European championships when he finished second in the elite men’s 1,500m race at last weekend’s Boston High Performance meeting.

DAVID GILLICK, the European indoor 400m champion, will be included on the team for the world indoor championships when it is announced next week although the early indications are that he will not travel.

DERVAL O’ROURKE of Leevale achieved her second national record in eight days when she retained her 60 metres hurdles title in a sensational 7.90 seconds at the National Indoor championships at Belfast’s Odyssey Arena yesterday.

CIARA SHEEHY may skip the 200 metres in favour of the 400 metres at the All-Ireland indoor championships at Belfast’s Odyssey Arena next weekend, despite three world-class performances at the AAA indoor championships in Sheffield last weekend.

MARK CHRISTIE is looking for a big performance at this year’s European cross-country championships in Tilburg, Holland, and has taken his preparations to a new level by travelling to Kenya to train at altitude.

JAMES NOLAN (1,500m) and Paul Hession (200m) were declared fit to compete at the world championships in Helsinki following Saturday’s Dublin International Meet at Morton Stadium.

THE battle of the women sprinters took on a new dimension at the Woodies DIY National Senior Championships in Morton Stadium yesterday when hurdler Derval O’Rourke entered the fray and almost pulled off what would have been a sensational double.

AN Irish team including a number of medal prospects was unveiled at Trinity College Dublin yesterday ahead of next month’s World University Games in Izmir, Turkey.

SONIA O’SULLIVAN misses the Woodies DIY National senior track and field championships at Morton Stadium at the weekend.

Brendan Mooney

There were two national records set at last night’s International Track and Field meeting in Bratislava where those competing in the sprint left the selectors with plenty of food for thought in advance of naming the team for the European Cup.

PAUL McKEE, bronze medallist in the 400m at the world indoor championships in Birmingham, is on the way back and is predicting medals from the 4x400m relay at next year’s European championships in Gothenburg.

Brendan Mooney

THE IRISH sprinters in action yesterday morning all made quick exits from the championships.

IRELAND’S David Gillick may be the second fastest 400m runner competing, but he will have to reproduce his best form at the European indoor athletics championships this evening if he is to make it through to tomorrow’s final.

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.

CIARA SHEEHY is all set to take on the pretender to her crown, Ailish McSweeney, at the AAI Indoor Games in Nenagh on Sunday.

Brendan Mooney

JER O’DONOGHUE made a sensational start to the new year by setting a new all-comers record when retaining the 60m title in a sizzling 6.79 secs at the Munster AAI indoor championships in Nenagh yesterday.

AILISH McSWEENEY will be the star attraction at the Munster indoor championships in Nenagh on Sunday as she attempts a double in the sprints.

ROBERT HEFFERNAN posted the second fastest time of his career for the 20k walk at the Grand Prix of Race Walking in La Coruna yesterday when he finished fifth in 1:20:55 to highlight his return to form in advance of the Olympics.

IRISH sprinters had a sensational weekend at the British AAA indoor championships and world championships trials in Sheffield when they took eight of the 12 sprint medals.

THE Irish team arrived in Bydgoszcz, Poland last night for the Euro U23s with medals on their minds.

AILISH McSWEENEY (Leevale) recorded her second double in a week when she won both sprints at the Munster senior track and field championships at the CIT Track in Cork yesterday where Donnacha O’Mahony (East Cork) rolled back the years to reclaim the 5,000m title.

FREDA DAVOREN (UCC AC) is still waiting for the race that will tell her exactly where she stands as regards 1,500m running.

JER O’DONOGHUE (Leevale) once again highlighted his liking for the Nenagh Indoor Arena with another sparkling performance in the 60m at the Munster indoor championships yesterday, clipping six hundredths of a second off the time he ran at the AAI Games a week earlier.