THE men’s 800m final could be the race of the weekend at the Woodies DIY national track and field championships at Morton Stadium.

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.

JOANNE CUDDIHY qualified for this evening’s women’s 400m semi-finals at the European championships in Gothenburg yesterday when she ran her second fastest time ever at 51.41 secs for second place behind gold medal favourite Olga Zaytseva of Russia, who ran 50.89 secs, in her first round heat.

LIAM REALE, in his first appearance at a major championship, qualified for the final of the men’s 1,500m with a never-say-die performance at the European Championships in Gothenburg last night, finishing eighth in 3:41.97 in a heat that produced all four fastest losers.

JOANNE CUDDIHY hopes to continue her impressive form in the first round heats of the Women’s 400m at the European championships in Gothenburg this morning.

Derval O'Rourke, Alistair Cragg and David Gillick are top of the pile in the 29-strong team chosen to represent Ireland at next month's European Athletics Championships in Gothenburg.

JOANNE CUDDIHY (UCD AC) stole the limelight from Derval O’Rourke at the Woodies DIY national championships in Morton Stadium, snatching the 200m title with a new personal best of 23.33 secs on Saturday, before producing another lifetime-best to win the 400m in a championship-best time of 51.28 secs yesterday.

Kilkenny woman Joanne Cuddihy looks set to double up with both the 200 metres and 400 metres titles at the Woodies DIY National Track and Field Championships this weekend.

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.

ALISTAIR CRAGG has endured 12 months of injury and illness since he won the European indoor title over 3,000 metres in Madrid but, half a continent away from his greatest success, he showed in Moscow yesterday he was back to something approaching his best.

Alistair Cragg qualified for Sunday’s World Championships indoor final in Moscow but looked a shadow of the runner who won last year’s European indoor 3000 metres title.

Reigning European indoor 400 metres champion David Gillick could be bound for Moscow as a late addition to the Ireland squad for the World Indoor Athletics Championships.

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.

Ballymena woman Anna Boyle and Cork's Derval O'Rourke set new Irish senior records at the 2006 Irish Indoor Athletics Championships in Belfast this evening.

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.

IRELAND picked up a fourth athletics medal on the final day of the World University Games in Turkey as the women’s squad finished third in the 4x100m relay.

Ireland are celebrating their first ever women's world relay medal after the women's 4x100 relay team scooped bronze at the World University Games in Izmir.

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.

Kilkenny City Harrier Eileen O'Keeffe threw a new national record of 68.14 metres to claim hammer gold at the Woodies DIY Irish Track and Field Championships in Santry today.

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.

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.

Athletics Ireland have added a further two athletes to the team for the forthcoming European Indoor Championships in Madrid on March 4-6.

FIVE athletes have been added to the Irish team for the European Indoor Championships in Madrid next month.

A further five athletes have been added to the team for the forthcoming European Indoor Championships in Madrid on March 4-6, making it the largest Irish team ever for these championships.

Brendan Mooney

THREE stadium records in quick succession — all from Leevale sprinters — provided fans with 25 minutes of sheer magic at the AAI Indoor championships in Nenagh yesterday when Jer O’Donoghue, Ailis McSweeney and hurdler Derval O’Rourke braved the bitter cold to return scintillating performances.

There were some top quality performances at the National Indoor Championships in Nenagh today with sprinters in particular, catching the eye.

WITH places still up for grabs on the Irish team for next month’s European Indoor Championships in Madrid, interest will centre on the Nenagh Arena over the weekend when the National Senior Championships will be decided.

Brendan Mooney

CIARAN Ó LIONAIRD posted the qualifying standards for both the world youths championships in Marrakech and the European Youth Olympics, which had been his target, in one fell swoop when he won the junior 1,500m race in a sensational 3:50.86 at the Cardiff indoor international at the weekend.

Four Olympians lead a strong Irish team for this Saturday's indoor international match between Ireland, England and Wales in Cardiff.

DERVAL O’ROURKE ended an injury nightmare on Saturday with qualification for the European Indoor Championships in Madrid in March.

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

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

GARY RYAN has always found The Mardyke something of a happy hunting ground for fast times but he will be looking for something extra today in his Olympic qualifying standard quest at the BUPA Cork City Sports.

SONIA O’SULLIVAN made a somewhat disappointing track return in Lausanne last night when she finished a remote ninth behind runaway winner, Yelena Zadorozhnaya of Russia, in 8:54.16, her slowest competitive 3,000m in 12 years.

IT WAS to be a day of celebration for Kerry’s Gillian O’Sullivan (Farranfore/Maine Valley) at the opening session of the indoor championships of Ireland.

CIARAN McDONAGH, who has been plagued by injury since he became the first Irishman to long jump over eight metres at the world championships in Seville in 1999, will be back in an Irish singlet at an International meet in Cardiff next weekend.