Olympic sweat for marathon four

Caitriona Jennings has admitted missing out on the Olympics having achieved the necessary qualifying time would be “devastating”.

That is the fate that awaits one of four of Ireland’s elite female marathon runners though, with countries only allowed to select a maximum of three contestants.

Having to leave out a runner with an ‘A’ standard is an unusual problem for Irish selectors but when Jennings ran 2.36.14 in only her second ever marathon at Rotterdam less than three weeks ago, she created just such a situation.