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.

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.

AN Irish team including a number of medal prospects was unveiled at Trinity College Dublin yesterday ahead of next month’s World University Games in Izmir, Turkey.

SONIA O’SULLIVAN misses the Woodies DIY National senior track and field championships at Morton Stadium at the weekend.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Casey Vincent from Australia has been added to the line-up for the 400m at BUPA Cork City Sports on July 3 in place of Chris Brown from the Bahamas.

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.

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

JOHN CAPEL of the United States rescued American sprinting pride as he led home a 1-2 in the men’s 200 metres world final last night.

DERVAL O’ROURKE will be a notable absentee from today’s Woodies DIY national senior track and field championships at Morton Stadium, Santry.

SONIA O’SULLIVAN will face no fewer than 10 Africans when she launches her track season at the IAAF Super Grand Prix meeting in Lausanne this evening and one of the 20 strong field, Renee Kalmer from Germany, will follow her home for the BUPA Ireland Cork City Sports on Saturday afternoon.

With the confirmation that former world 400m indoor champion, the flamboyant Welshman, Jamie Baulch is set to run this event in next Saturday's Bupa Ireland Cork City Sports at the Mardyke the stage is set for a classic rematch of last March's thrilling but controversial 400m final at the World

TOMAS COMAN made a sensational return to form in Cuttbus on Wednesday night when he pipped reigning European champion Ingo Schultz for second place behind Danny McFarlane of Jamaica in an exciting finish to the 400m.

FREDA DAVOREN (UCC AC) is still waiting for the race that will tell her exactly where she stands as regards 1,500m running.

CURRENT British champion Shani Anderson, who won both the 100m and 200m at last year’s BUPA Cork City Sports, is set to return to defend to her titles on July 5.

IT APPEARS as if The AAI are likely to agree to Martin McCarthy’s who asked expressed the desire request to be entered in both the short and long course races at the world cross-country championships in Lausanne at the end of the month.

PAUL McKEE took advantage of ideal conditions for sprinting to set an Irish record in the 400m at the National Championships in Santry.

ATHLETICS legend Terry McHugh hopes to set a world record by winning his 19th consecutive national Javelin title at Morton Stadium, Santry this weekend.

TOMAS COMAN, the national indoor 400m record holder, has abandoned hopes of competing in next month's European championships in Munich.

Republic of Ireland soccer manager Mick McCarthy will go head to head with Tipperary hurler Tommy Dunne and champion horse trainer Aidan O'Brien for the prestigious Canon Hayes national sports awards.