Four Irish set to compete in Winter Olympics

THE qualification of Wicklow’s David Connolly in an Olympic qualifying event in Germany this week ensures four Irish athletes have achieved the qualification standards for next month’s Winter Games in Turin.

There is a also a slim chance that the Hoey sisters may yet get a place in the Women’s Bobsleigh event, with final news expected early next week.

Connolly (25), achieved the difficult Olympic standard in the Skeleton discipline, an event in which Ireland’s Clifton Wrottesley missed out on a medal by a fraction of a second in the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City.