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

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.

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

World 20-kilometre walk silver medallist Gillian O’Sullivan will compete indoors in Belfast later this month where she set a world 3km walking record 12 months ago.

WITH June 30 the cut off point for Olympic qualification, most athletes have their programmes in place for Athens but the High Performance Director, Elaine Fitzgerald, admitted that time is not on their side.

IRELAND could have its smallest team in years at next year’s Olympic Games in Athens as the race for qualification gathers momentum.

JAMES NOLAN faces his moment of truth when he lines up for the heats of the 1,500 metres at the World Indoor Championships in Birmingham this evening (5.31pm).

GARY RYAN has hit form at precisely the right moment — and the Nenagh Olympic sprinter highlighted this fact once again at the weekend in Birmingham where he became the first Irishman in history to break 21 seconds for 200m indoors with a 20.99 victory in the final.

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.

SONIA O'SULLIVAN is all set to compete in the short course trial which will be run at Dunleer on March 16 in conjunction with Rás na hÉireann.

DERVAL O’ROURKE reaped the rewards of professional preparation when she ran 8.18 secs to win the 60m hurdles at the international meet in Cardiff on Sunday.

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.

JAMIE COSTIN will get the Irish to the Olympic Stadium early this morning when he lines up for the 50k walk (8.05 am Irish time).

WITH national champion and record-holder Paul McKee and runner-up Rob Daly opting for the 200m, bronze medallist Antoine Burke will carry Irish hopes in a star-studded 400m at the Dublin International Games tonight.

SONIA O'SULLIVAN will compete in the 800m on at the national track and field championships at Morton Stadium, Santry, tomorrow, but there will be no head-to-head with Ireland's current middle distance sensation, Geraldine Hendricken.