Determined O’Keeffe eyes hammer final glory
The Kilkenny thrower had a dream start to her campaign here when she exceeded the qualification standard set at 71 metres with her very first throw.
“I am in the final now and I will give it my best shot,” she said. “The 73 metre throw at the national championships and then the silver medal at the World University Championships in Bangkok has given me a lot of confidence.
“I know it will be difficult to win a medal here. I would say about 76 metres will win the gold medal but anything can happen in the final. I would hope to throw 73 metres again and see where that takes me.”
Today is also a defining day for Alistair Cragg who lines up for the first heat of the men’s 5,000m (2.45pm Irish time).
It has been something of a topsy-turvy season for him so far. He set a new Irish record for 10,000m at 27:39.55 in Stanford at the end of April. On July 21 he set a new pb of 13:07.10 for 5,000m at Brasschatt and four days later he had a pb of 7:32.49 for 3,000m in Monaco.
But, at the other end of the spectrum, he had a few disappointing performances and failed to finish a couple of races.
“I am in pretty good shape right now,” he said. “I went back to Fayetteville where the weather is quite similar to this and had some pretty good sessions there. It just remains to be seen if I can reproduce that form in my racing.”
He goes into the race as fourth fastest in the field. Kenenisa Bekele, who again opted for just the 10,000m, is represented by his younger brother, Tariku, who had a pb of 13:04.05 for 5,000m this year.
There is another Ethiopian in the field, Bekana Daba, with a best of 13:06.52, while Ahmed Baday (Morocco) belied his age by posting a best of 13:09.82 this year as well.
With the first five and five fastest losers from each of two heats to go through, Cragg should not have too much difficulty claiming his place in Sunday’s final although the heat and humidity will obviously be a problem.
David Campbell is scheduled to compete in the heats of the 800m today as well but his participation was in doubt once again last night.
He has been recovering from a tummy bug since the weekend and while he was optimistic of being able to compete up to yesterday Dr Bill Cuddihy, the Irish team doctor, said they would be reviewing the situation again and a final decision will not be taken until this morning.
Olive Loughnane competes in the women’s 20k walk tomorrow morning hoping to improve on her 12th place in Paris four years ago when her performance was overshadowed by the silver medal winning performance of her team mate, Gillian O’Sullivan.
She qualified for those championships and next year’s Olympic Games early this year but, since then, her season has been fragmented with illness.
“It has been a tough couple of months but everything is all right again and I am looking forward to racing on Friday,” she said.
“I have prepared well for those championships. I was at the training camp in Portugal, then Font Romeu with Jamie Costin and Colin Griffin, and I went to Spain for two weeks to get used to the heat.”
After 10 days in Osaka she is acclimatised but she knows that the heat and humidity will play a big part in performances.
“The men’s race was four and a half minutes slower that normal and the men’s marathon was 10 minutes slower,” she said.
She finished eighth in the European championships in Munich and her time in Paris the following year was 1:30:50.
She also competed in the world championships in Edmonton in 2001 when she was 13th.
Colin Griffin and Jamie Costin, who have also qualified for the Olympic Games, will compete in the 50k walk on Saturday morning.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
