AS HIS fellow competitors headed for the changing rooms, Ireland’s 200m sprinter Paul Hession lingered on the track for a while watching himself on one of the giant screens which hang in this vast Bird’s Nest Stadium.

Although he failed in his bid to become the first Irishman to qualify for an Olympic sprint final since Bob Tisdall in 1932, Paul Hession was still happy with his lot as he stood trackside in the Bird's Nest Stadium.

PAUL HESSION ran another seasonal best for third place in the 200m while two more third places for David Gillick in the 400m and Alistair Cragg in the 3,000m at the Aviva Grand Prix in Crystal Palace underscored a weekend of highs and lows for Ireland’s Beijing-bound athletes.

Paul Hession gave notice that he is a serious contender for a place in the Olympic final by running a season's best time (20.37 seconds) in this afternoon's world class 200 metres race at the Aviva London Grand Prix.

PAUL HESSION took his Olympic preparations to another level in Salamanca last night when he beat a strong field to win the 200m in 20.55secs after finishing third in the 100m in 10.27secs.

Olympic champion Mark Lewis-Francis insists Great Britain’s 4x100 metre relay team at the World Championships in Osaka has the individual potential to be better than the one that stormed to gold in Athens three years ago.

Ireland's Alistair Cragg placed a disappointing seventh in the two-mile event at tonight's IAAF London Super Grand Prix at Crystal Palace.

Kelly Holmes plans to forget she is an Olympic champion as she goes all out for a second gold medal.

VICTORIES by four genuine Olympic medal hopefuls helped atone for a bitterly disappointing display by Britain’s 100 metres sprinters in the Norwich Union London Grand Prix at a sweltering Crystal Palace last night.

Victories by four of Britain’s genuine Olympic medal hopefuls helped atone for a bitterly disappointing display by the 100 metres sprinters in the Norwich Union London Grand Prix at a sweltering Crystal Palace this evening.

DERVAL O’ROURKE set another new national under-23 record and continued progress towards world championship and Olympic qualification standard when she finished third in the 100m hurdles in 13.19 seconds at the European Cup match in Finland yesterday.

Christian Malcolm shrugged off a false start to clinch a place in the final of the European Championships 200 metres in Munich.

Footballers' Wives star Gary Lucy is among 50 nominees for Company magazine's Bachelor Of The Year award.

Christian Malcolm just failed to claim Britain's third medal of the World Athletics Championships in a thrilling 200m final in Edmonton.

Dwain Chambers and Christian Malcolm have both targeted medals in the 200 metres after seeing Maurice Greene confirm his status as the world's greatest sprinter.

Maurice Greene has scorched to a third successive 100 metres title at the World Championships in Edmonton.