Cuddihy powers into 400 semi-final

JOANNE CUDDIHY qualified for this evening’s women’s 400m semi-finals at the European championships in Gothenburg yesterday when she ran her second fastest time ever at 51.41 secs for second place behind gold medal favourite Olga Zaytseva of Russia, who ran 50.89 secs, in her first round heat.

As a result she will get a prime draw and will line up in lane five in the second of the two semi-finals, renewing her rivalry with Zaytseva in lane three, with fellow Russian, Tatyana Veshkurova, winner of the fourth heat yesterday, in lane four.

Cuddihy had the fifth fastest time in yesterday’s heats with Vanya Stambolova of Bulgaria, who won heat two in 50.39 secs, fastest of the qualifiers. The first three in the heats got automatic qualification with the four fastest losers joining them in the semi-finals but Joanne Cuddihy left nothing to chance and promised better to come.

While a place in the semi-finals was always the objective, she insisted that the Irish record set by Karen Shinkins at 51.07 secs in 1999 is the prime target now that she has cleared the first hurdle. “The Irish record is definitely my main aim,” she said.

“If I break the Irish record, that’s in my control. Whether I get to the final or not depends on what the other girls run. But I know I am in pretty good shape and ready to break the record.”

Yesterday’s performance would indicate that she can run a fast time. Off to a slow start, she overtook Marilyn Okora (Great Britain) on the back straight despite the fact that she was taking a breather, ran a strong third 100m and kept it together when the gold medal favourite passed her.

“I can improve on that run,” she said. “My reaction time today was slow and I should be able to improve on that. I am pretty confident I can progress further but like I said whether or not I make the final will depend on how fast the other girls in my heat run.

“Today I felt strong and I felt good. I was out in lane seven so I was running a little bit blind. I would like to have had the comfort of watching the race and seeing how it was panning out. Because of that I could not afford to keep anything in reserve. I just had to go for it.”

Yesterday, she was just .17 secs outside her personal best of 51.28 secs which she recorded in her last race at the national championships and she goes into her semi-final as the fourth fastest in the line-up behind Zaytseva, (44.49), Veshkurova (44.99) and Bulgarian Mariyana Dimitrova (50.82) and must have an outstanding chance of making the final.

“I know she will run to her potential and if that is good enough to get her into the final we will be delighted,” her coach, Paddy Fay, said. “She just has to be careful to run her own race but I know she will walk off that track saying ‘that’s the best I could get out of myself’ and we will all be happy with that.”

Anna Boyle failed to qualify from her heat of the women’s 100m, finishing fifth in 11.60 secs, and dismissed her chances of getting past the first round of the 200m, although she will be a key figure in Ireland’s 4 x 100m relay squad.

There was disaster for Emily Maher who pulled a hamstring while warming up for her heat of the 100m and will miss the remainder of the championships — both the 200m and the 4 x 100m relay.

It may not have been his fastest run but Liam Reale ran the race of his life to finish eighth in his semi-final and qualify for this evening’s final of the men’s 1,500m.

“Coming out here I was probably the one least expected to get through to a final,” he said.

“Now that I have done that we’ll see what happens. I will give it my best shot.” Mehdi Baala (France) will be bidding to become the first man since Steve Cram in Stuttgart in 1986 to retain this title and he underscored his intentions with the fastest time in Monday’s semi-finals.

Paul Hession, Paul Brizzel and Gary Ryan go in the first round heats of the men’s 200m this morning. With the first four and the eight fastest losers to go through to this evening’s second round, Ireland’s best chance would appear to lie with Paul Hession who goes in lane two in the fourth of six heats.

The Athenry sprinter has a seasonal best of 20.75 secs but missed the national senior championships with an injury. He appears to be over that and, fully fit, one would have to fancy him to make it through.

Paul Brizzel, the national champion and national record holder at 20.56 secs, gets lane seven in the second heat, while Gary Ryan, in his third European championships and with seven outdoor 200m titles and four indoors, gets lane six in heat 5.