Irish eye Osaka challenge

Ireland will field a small but strong team at the IAAF World Athletics Championships in Osaka next month.

Eileen O’Keeffe, who smashed her Irish hammer record at the trials in Santry Stadium in Dublin on Saturday and is now ranked 13th in the world, established world indoor 60m hurdles champion Derval O’Rourke, two-time European Indoor gold medallist David Gillick and 5,000m runner Alistair Cragg are the main hopes.

Cragg, who has returned to the USA to complete his preparations, moved to the top of the European rankings by running 13minutes 7.10seconds at an event in Belgium at the weekend.

“This is a small, select team that is quite strong and it can be more competitive at a world level than Ireland has been for several years,” said Max Jones, Ireland’s director of athletics.

“We have athletes who can challenge to get into finals in Osaka with the focus of the Beijing Olympics being only one year away. I am looking forward to some world class performances from an exciting Irish team.”

Further athletes may be added to the squad next week if their performances merit selection.