PAUL HESSION singled out Brendan Christian (Antigua & Barbuda) as the favourite to win the race before he went to the line for last evening’s 200m at the Bislett Games Golden League meeting in Oslo and then went on to challenge him for the lead coming off the bend.

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.

IRELAND has two athletes at the top of the European rankings after an exciting weekend that saw Paul Hession (Athenry) run the fastest 200m by a European this year at the Woodies DIY national track and field championships at Morton Stadium and Alistair Cragg post the fastest 5,000m by a European at a meet in Brasschaat, Belgium.

The big guns are all still in sight of winning the men's 800m title as David Campbell, Thomas Chamney and David McCarthy all qualified as easy winners of today's heats.

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

Headline acts Derval O’Rourke and David Gillick will both want to forget today's 56th running of the Cork City Sports in a hurry.

David Gillick has set a new Irish record in the 400 metres.

DERVAL O’ROURKE has decided to call it quits for the season after disappointing runs in Friday night’s Golden League meet in Zurich and Sunday’s Super Grand Prix in Monte Carlo.

ALISTAIR CRAGG has returned to Arkansas for treatment on his Achilles tendon following his mishap in the final of the 5,000m at the European track and field championships in Gothenburg.

The Irish men’s team has won through to a place in the final of the 4x400 relay at the Spar European Athletics Championships in Gothenburg tomorrow evening.

DAVID GILLICK turned in one of the most exciting performances of his life at the European Track and Field Championships in Gothenburg yesterday and was rewarded with a prime lane for this evening’s 400m semi-finals.

Irish medal hopeful David Gillick has finished second in his 400m heat in the European Championships in Gothenburg this morning, coming in just behind Britain’s Tim Benjamin.

IRELAND’s Paul McKee must launch his European Championship campaign from lane nine when the first-round heats of the 400 metres get under way today.

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.

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.

Dubliner David Gillick won his first 400 metres outdoor title at the Woodie's DIY National Track and Field Championships today.

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.

IRELAND’S new world champion Derval O’Rourke, fresh from her record run in Lausanne last week, and both European indoor champions, Alistair Cragg and David Gillick, will have a rare opportunity to parade their talents before the home fans when they line up for the Woodies DIY National Track & Field Championships at Morton Stadium over the weekend.

LABAN ROTICH failed by a fraction in his bid to become the first athlete to break four minutes for the mile in Kerry at last night’s Lee Strand international meeting on Castleisland’s resplendent track when he outsprinted fellow Kenyan, Paul Korir, to win in 4:00.63.

THE legendary Michael Johnson telephoned the organisers of the BUPA Cork City Sports during the week in a bid to get one of his proteges, Darold Williamson, into their July 1 showpiece at The Mardyke.

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.

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.

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.

JER O’DONOGHUE (Leevale) returned to his native county to claim his qualifying standard for next year’s European track and field championships last night when An Riocht AC unveiled their magnificent new €1.8 million facility with the Lee Strand International at Castleisland.

Simon Lewis

WITH so many stars absent through injury the Woodies DIY National Senior Track and Field Championships at Morton Stadium over the weekend may not have left things straight forward for the selectors who will name the team for the world championships later today but they provided fans with plenty of entertainment.

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.

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.

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.

PAUL McKEE came through his first 400m race since 2003 without any problems on Tuesday night and now has his sights set firmly on the BUPA Cork City Sports at The Mardyke on July 2.

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.

Brendan Mooney

HAYLEY YELLING, the European cross-country champion, will join Sonia O’Sullivan for the women’s 3,000m at the BUPA Cork City Sports on July 2 at The Mardyke.

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

ALISTAIR CRAGG has opted for the short course (4k) race at the world cross-country championships in St Etienne on Saturday week.

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.

PAUL McKEE walked away from his seasonal debut in Cardiff at the weekend with mixed feelings after running a personal best for 100 metres and following up with a dismal run over 300m, the race he had targeted.

SONIA O’SULLIVAN, fresh from her victory on the track in California last weekend, returns to the road tomorrow when she lines up for the 5k at Balmoral.

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.

The disqualification of the United States 4x400m men’s relay team from this evening’s World Championship final has seen Ireland claim a much coveted bronze, the country’s first ever relay medal at any level.

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.

GARY RYAN will compete in the 4x400m relay at the world indoor championships in Budapest over the weekend.