Paul Hession progressed through the opening round heats of the 200m this morning at the European Athletics Championships in Barcelona.

DAVID McCARTHY and Ailís McSweeney qualified for the semi-finals of their respective 800m and 100m events on an exciting, and controversial, morning for Irish athletes at the Olympic Stadium in Barcelona.

WITH the majority of the Irish athletes due to fly into Barcelona today, Paul Hession has opted to remain at the training camp in Murcia until Monday, the day before the European Championships get under way.

ROBERT Heffernan put weeks of frustration behind him when he retained his 10,000m walk title at the Woodies DIY National track and field championships at Morton Stadium yesterday where he beat his Olympic team mate, Jamie Costin, who claimed his 3,000m record in Cork a week earlier and, to cap it all, picked up the Athlete of the Meet Award and the €1,000 that went with it.

The Republic of Ireland’s Ciara Sheehy ran a season’s best but missed out on a place in the 200 metres semi-finals at the European Indoor Championships in unusual circumstances.