Robinson narrowly misses Irish record

ATHLETICS: Paul Robinson narrowly was narrowly outside David Matthew’s Irish 1,000m record of 2:17.58 with 2:17.93 at the Golden Spike meeting in Ostrava last night.

Robinson finished tenth in a high calibre race won by former Kenyan Ilham Tanui Ozbilen of Turkey in a meeting record of 2:15.08. Robinson’s 2:17.93 was a new personal best and moved him to number two on the Irish all-time list.

The St Coca’s athlete will run for Ireland over 1500m at the European Team Championships in Tallinn, Estonia this weekend.

Ethiopia’s Genzebe Dibaba was unable to break Sonia O’Sullivan’s 2,000m world record of 5:25.36 in Ostrava running 5:27.50. O’Sullivan remains the only individual Irish athlete to hold a world record and it will reach 20 years on July 8.