Duo open Irish campaign at World Championships

Roisin McGettigan and Fionnuala Britton kick off a potentially exciting future for Irish athletics at the World Championships beginning in Osaka on Saturday.

The pair of 3,000metre steeplechasers are the country’s only athletes in action on the opening day of the meeting, hopefully heralding a new image for the sport.

The appointment of former UK Athletics performance director Max Jones will see him oversee and assess how he can move international athletics forward in the next few years.

Jones is aiming to produce an Irish squad that in the long-term future can do justice to itself on the global stage.

It will be a mammoth task to achieve given the dominance of the the United States and Russia and extending to the massive recent improvements from third world countries.

“We have a young side that can stay together and go on for the next few years,” said Jones, highly impressed with the talent within his small squad in Japan.

Jones’ primary role is grooming a side for the 2012 London Olympic Games although very eager to ensure it progresses before then, beginning with the World Championships and next year’s Games.

“This is a stepping stone for Beijing and beyond. We have a young team here and hopefully it can raise its game,” said Jones.

“Here I’m hoping to see Paul Hession, Alistair Cragg, Derval O’Rourke and possibly Eileen O’Keeffe, get into the final of their events.”

Hession is ranked 10th in the world over 200m this year and is concentrating on the longer sprint race, rather than double up and contesting the 100m where the heats begin on Saturday.

Cragg, likewise, will only run over 5,000m rather than also tackle the 10,000m, which would be a very demanding programme in the extreme heat and humidity of Osaka.

O’Rourke, last year’s world indoor 60m hurdles champion and European 100m hurdles silver medallist, is returning to top form after injury.

After her absence the Cork star will do well to progress through the preliminary rounds and into next Wednesday’s final.

O’Keeffe, the European Cup First League champion has made massive inroads in the hammer, recently raising her Irish record to 73.21 metres.

“It’s all down to them to prove their ability although the weather could upset the odds for everyone,” said Jones.