Mark English put in a classy performance to win heat two of the men’s 800m in 1:47.38 on a positive day for the Irish athletes at the European Track and Field Championships in Zurich.

Ireland's Fionnuala Britton had to make-do with eighth place as 40-year-old Jo Pavey made athletics history in Zurich this evening.

Wilson Kipsang snatched victory from fellow Kenyan Micah Kogo in the UK's Great North Run thanks to a dramatic sprint finish that went right to the line.

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Irish hopes of a medal from the European track and field championships in Helsinki were dashed on the final day when leading hope Fionnuala Britton finished fourth in the women’s 10,000m in 32:05.54, over half a minute outside the time which qualified her for the Olympic Games on her debut over the distance.

Fionnuala Britton’s brave bid to win a medal at the European Athletics Championships in only her second ever 10,000m race fell narrowly short in Helsinki today.

Fionnuala Britton will go to the line tomorrow as gold medal favourite for the European Championship swomen’s 10,000m in Helsinki.

Dwain Chambers admitted emotions had to be “put to one side” as he prepared to compete in his first relay for Great Britain for six years.

Scotland’s Freya Murray was an admittedly ‘unexpected’ winner of the SPAR Great Ireland Run as she beat the returning Jo Pavey to claim victory in today’s 10-kilometre women’s race at the Phoenix Park.

Olympic 10,000 metres medal hopeful Jo Pavey felt Doris Changeywo’s victory by seven seconds in the Great Ireland Run in Dublin today was fully merited.

Sonia O’Sullivan has tipped training partner Benita Johnson to emerge victorious from a high-quality field in tomorrow’s Great Ireland Run in Dublin.

Kenya’s Abraham Chebii will return to Phoenix Park in Dublin to defend his Great Ireland Run title on Sunday, April 6.

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

MARY CULLEN is ready to challenge for a medal in the senior women’s race at the SPAR European cross-country championships at San Giorgio su Legnana, near Milan, tomorrow but would be happy with a place in the top five or six.

Jo Pavey endured a few difficult moments before winning yesterday’s SPAR European Cross Country trial in Liverpool.

Jo Pavey was delighted with her victory in the BUPA Great South Run but later claimed she was just as pleased her performance did not see her finish receiving medical treatment.

UK middle distance runner Jo Pavey will face top Africans Berhane Adere and Susan Chepkemei when she makes her half-marathon debut in next month’s BUPA Great North Run.

YOU can never have too much jewellery, even if you’re an elite sportsman.

World junior cross-country champion Gelete Burika is a last-minute recruit to challenge pre-race favourite Tirunesh Dibaba for the VisitScotland Great Edinburgh Cross Country title on Saturday.

Jo Pavey will compete in the ‘Visit Scotland’ Great Edinburgh Cross-Country event on January 14.

THEY may have reclaimed their position in the top division but British athletics suffered a stunning blow at the European Cup match in Leiria, Portugal, yesterday, when Paula Radcliffe trailed in a remote second to Volha Krautsova from Belarus in the women’s 5,000m - a performance that must throw her plans for the world championships into turmoil.

Olympic 5,000 metres finalist Jo Pavey has been selected for the Norwich Union Great Britain and Northern Ireland team to compete in the Spar European Cross-Country Championships next month.

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

Britain's Kelly Holmes was again tight-lipped about her Olympic ambitions after finishing second over 1,500 metres in tonight’s Weltklasse Golden League meeting in Zurich.

Fresh on the heels of her withdrawal from last weekend's Great North race in Newcastle, Ireland's Catherina McKiernan has pulled out of next Saturday's Belfast International event at Stormont.

SONIA O’SULLIVAN disappointed in the IAAF grand prix meeting in Madrid on Saturday night, coming home fifteenth of sixteen finishers in a bruising 1500m.