ROBERT HEFFERNAN and Olive Loughnane will compete in the Gran Permio de La Coruna in Spain at the weekend - both with Beijing on their minds.

IRISH 4x400m relay teams begin their quests for Olympic qualification next month.

JOANNE CUDDIHY took Irish women’s 400m running to a new level at the world championships in Osaka yesterday when she set the national record at a world class 50.73 secs and only narrowly missed out on a place in the final.

EMULATING Madrid in 2005, where they won two gold medals, will be a tall order, but the Irish team travelling to Birmingham for the European Indoor Championships this weekend will still be expected to claim a pair of podium finishes.

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.

DAVID GILLICK will go to the European championships in Gothenburg in two weeks’ time oozing confidence after his performance at the Woodies DIY national track and field championships in Morton Stadium yesterday.

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.

Joanne Cuddihy announced herself as the new star of Irish athletics in Santry today as she added the 400 metres title to the 200m gold she won yesterday at the Woodie's DIY National Track and Field Championships.

KAREN SHINKINS has withdrawn from this weekend’s Woodies DIY National Track and Field Championships and is also out of next month’s European Championships in Gothenburg.

TWO of the fastest men on earth return to The Mardyke on Saturday for the BUPA Cork City Sports with confirmation yesterday that two of America’s top sprinters, Bernard Williams and Tyree Washington, are set to line up for the 100m and 200m, respectively.

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.

MARK CARROLL showed he is pumped up for tomorrow’s ING New York City Marathon by launching a stinging attack on Irish Sports Council chairman John Treacy on the eve of the race.

Lauren Williams has won the women's 100m event at the World Athletics Championships in Helsinki.

KAREN SHINKINS, one of the athletes dumped on the scrapheap by the Irish Sports Council and left without any financial aid when they introduced their new carding scheme earlier this year, was the one athlete who saved Irish blushes on a dismal opening to the world championships in Helsinki.

Karen Shinkins has qualified for tomorrow's semi-finals of the women's 400m at the World Athletics Championships in Helsinki.

FEW athletes in Helsinki have made more sacrifices than Robert Heffernan and the 27-year-old Togher man will be hoping to reap the rewards in the 20k walk today (4.40pm Irish time).

OLIVE LOUGHNANE will put her preparation to the test when she lines-up for the women’s 20k walk tomorrow morning.

IRELAND’S representation at the World Athletics Championships in Helsinki was down to 11 yesterday following the withdrawal of David Gillick.

DAVID GILLICK, the European indoor 400m champion, has been named on the Irish team for the world championships in Helsinki the weekend after next.

A total of 12 athletes are to represent Ireland at the World Athletics Championships, beginning on August 5, after Athletics Ireland announced their team today.

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.

National cross country champion Jolene Byrne came from third on the final bend to take the 1500 metres title at the Woodies DIY Irish Track and Field championships. But she almost surrendered the gold in the final strides at Morton Stadium, Santry.

BERNARD WILLIAMS, silver medallist in the 200m at last year’s Olympics and member of the USA gold medal winning 4 x 100m relay team in Atlanta will line up in the 100m at the BUPA Cork City Sports on July 2.

DAVID GILLICK will have the A standard for the world championships in Helsinki as his target when he lines up for the 400m at the European Cup in Leiria, Portugal, on the weekend of June 18/19.

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.

IF Geraldine Hendricken is ready to run, she will be at The Mardyke on July 2.

Brendan O’Brien

SONIA O’SULLIVAN’S Sports Council grant has been reinstated but the International Carding Scheme Appeals Committee have virtually retired a whole generation of Irish athletics by refusing their appeals, according to a leading athletics figure.

IRISH HURDLER Peter Coghlan has quit athletics in protest at being omitted from the Irish Sport Council’s high-performance grant recipients.

David Gillick out-gunned home favourite David Canale to power home to 400 metres gold tonight in Madrid, and Ireland's first ever male sprint medal at the European Indoor Championships.

WITH Athens looming, Irish athletics got another much-needed boost in advance of the Olympic Games when Mark Carroll finished second in the 3,000m at the Gugi Meeting in Linz on Monday night where Freda Davoren turned in another superb performance to finish third in the women’s 1,500m.

MARK CARROLL highlighted his well-being in advance of the Olympic Games by running away with the 5,000m and then winning an exciting sprint for third place behind Alistair Cragg and young Colin Costello in the 1,500m at the Woodies DIY National Championships at Morton Stadium yesterday.

SONIA O’SULLIVAN has been travelling a familiar path along the Olympic route and this weekend could see her repeat her Sydney 2000 strategy should she double up over 800m and 1,500m at the Woodies DIY National Championships at Morton Stadium.

The Olympic Council of Ireland last night sensationally extended the Athens qualification deadline for Irish track and field athletes to 5pm on July 20, in the wake of Athletics Ireland's case pleaded on behalf of those close to the A standard.

ATHLETES and swimmers chasing Olympic qualifying standards were given a new lease of life last night when the Olympic Council of Ireland extended the deadline for A standard qualification to July 20 but warned that there will be no further extension.

THE Olympic Council of Ireland may extend their qualification deadlines for the Athens Games, according to OCI President Pat Hickey.

HIGH jump sensation Adrian O’Dwyer, was jumping for Olympic qualification in Algiers last week but on Saturday he will be jumping for joy at The Mardyke in Cork where he will again treat fans to the type of performance that saw him clear 2.30m and claim his place in Athens.

IRISH High Jump sensation Adrian O’Dwyer from Kilkenny yesterday became the 13th Irish athlete to achieve the Olympic A standard when he set an Irish record of 2.30m at a meeting in Algiers.

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.

FROM the crumbs of a rather bare table came medals of joy for the Irish at the concluding session of the IAAF World Indoor Athletics Championships in Budapest yesterday when the 4x400 metres relay team took bronze after a drama which would have been difficult to script.

Ireland’s 4x400m relay men’s squad have clocked a new national record at the World Indoor Championships in Budapest, inspiring hopes of a possible medal in the evening final, which sees them ranked fifth of the six starters.

IRISH ATHLETES will be looking for inspiration from past performances in Budapest when they go into action in the 10th IAAF World Indoor Championships at the Sportarena today.