OCI ready to accept revised Olympic qualifying standards

Athletics Ireland High Performance Director Kevin Ankrom says the Olympic Council of Ireland are likely to accept the IAAF’s revised qualifying standards for next year’s Games, a move which would see middle distance runners Ciara Mageean and Ciara Everard both secure qualifying times nine months in advance. 

On Thursday, the IAAF announced it was easing the qualifying standards across 17 events in a bid to boost participation numbers, with performances after May 1, 2015 eligible for qualification.

Everard ran 2:01.21 for 800m in May, marginally outside the original qualification standard of 2:01.00, but with the standard changed to 2:01.50, the 25-year-old from Kilkenny will now have one foot on the plane to Rio de Janeiro. That’s also the case for Ciara Mageean, whose 1500m best this year of 4:06.49 was outside the prior qualifying standard of 4:06.00, but is quicker than the adjusted standard of 4:07.00.

In the marathon, the IAAF eased the men’s standard from 2:17:00 to 2:19:00, which sees an additional three Irish athletes – Gary Thornton, Thomas Frazier and Seán Hehir – stake their claim for qualification and with the women’s standard easing from 2:42:00 to 2:45:00, Barbara Sanchez’s run of 2:42:43 makes her the fourth fastest Irish qualifier.

However Athletics Ireland is still awaiting confirmation from the Olympic Council of Ireland that they will approve the adjusted standards, which is expected in the coming days.

“We’re expecting something official from the International Olympic Committee and that usually happens a couple of days after the release from the IAAF,” said Ankrom.

“The OCI has stuck with those [IAAF] standards before, and I presume they’ll continue to do so now.”