Young athletes in top form for Osaka

A SQUAD that is young enough to form the nucleus of Ireland’s Olympic team for London 2012 will represent Ireland at the IAAF world championships in Osaka in two weeks.

Michelle Carey, the national 400m hurdles champion, has been added to the team which was formally announced by Athletics Ireland’s new Director of Athletics, Max Jones, yesterday.

This means that 15 of Ireland’s elite athletes will make the trip to Japan, including sprinters Paul Hession and David Gillick; middle distance runner, Alistair Cragg; race walkers, Robert Heffernan and Colin Griffin; 3,000m steeplechaser, Roisín McGettigan; and hammer thrower, Eileen O’Keeffe, who have set 11 Irish records between them during what has been the most exciting season in Irish athletics since Sonia O’Sullivan’s record-breaking spree back in 1993.

“All 15 of them could be in London in 2012,” said Max Jones, “They are all athletes on the way up and that is something we have not had in recent years. Several of them are capable of getting into the semi-finals of their respective events and pushing for a place in the finals.”

He pointed out that there were encouraging signs throughout the team. World indoor 60m hurdles champion, Derval O’Rourke, is hitting form at the right time and appears ready to make an impression in the sprint hurdles.

“Alistair Cragg is an exceptional talent who will go into the championships ranked 10th, given the fact that the Kenyans can only take three per event, and if he is on song he will be right in contention,” he said.

Cragg, who set a new Irish record for the 10,000m (27:39.55) this year, has opted for the 5,000m. He ran personal bests of 3:36.18 for 1,500m and 13:07.10 for 5,000m this season He is currently in Arkansas fine-tuning his preparations and will fly directly to Osaka to join the team.

Paul Hession who set a new Irish record for 200m at 20.30s at the national championships and has broken the 100m record twice this season, is opting for the 200m, his prime event.

“He is an athlete who will have no difficulty getting through the rounds,” Jones insisted. “Some athletes tend to run out of steam when they get to the semi-finals but I’ll be disappointed if he does not make the final.”

David Gillick, the double European indoor 400m champion, set a new national record at 45.23s in his second race of the season and is returning to that form at the right time.

“He will certainly make the semi-finals,” he said. “He has the strength to get to the semis and push for a place in the final.”

Steeplechaser Roisín McGettigan set a new Irish record at 9:28.29 when finishing third in Heusden recently and that time places her ninth in the world and a favourite to make the final in Osaka.

She is joined by her Sli Cualann clubmate Fionnuala Britton who posted a new personal best in Heusden.

But when it comes to sheer commitment and professionalism, one has to hand it to the race walkers. Robert Heffernan walked himself into contention when he set a new national record at 1:20:15 earlier this season and Colin Griffin also set a national record for the 50k walk when he posted his qualifying standard back in March.

Jamie Costin (50k) and Olive Loughnane (20k) have also qualified for next year’s Olympics along with Heffernan and Griffin.

Joanne Cuddihy (400m) and David Campbell (800m) represented the athletes at yesterday’s announcement.

Campbell was back in Dublin after a 10-day training stint alongside Craig Mottram, Australia’s bronze medallist in Helsinki, with Nic Bideau’s group in London.

“This is something I have dreamed of for the past three years,” he said. “When I sat down with Nic Bideau at the start of the year I set myself three goals: to get to the world championships, to get to the line in one piece and then give it one hell of a go. I have now achieved two of those.”

Team manager, Patsy McGonagle, stressed the importance of those world championships as a dress rehearsal for next year’s Olympic Games.

“This is a competition of the same level, intensity and climatic conditions as the Olympics. From that point of view it is a very important exercise.

“The majority of our athletes will travel to Japan on Monday and go to a holding camp in Matsue where they will stay for varying amounts of time as they recover from the trip and get acclimatised to conditions.”