Final hurdle

FEW Yale economics graduates follow the career path chosen by Dubliner Paul Coghlan when they successfully complete their studies. Certainly, he is in the fast lane, but it is not in the same way as his fellow students, who are aiming to make it big on Wall Street or in investment banking.

Instead he has chosen the even more volatile world of professional athletics. But after a stellar season in 1999, Coghlan has been plagued with a series of debilitating injuries which have upset progress and prevented him fulfilling the promise which his talent so clearly signposted.

However, the 28-year-old from Castleknock, who last Sunday week won his seventh National title in the 110m Hurdles, reckons his enforced absence from the track in recent months may be the key to him achieving a lifetime best performance at the Athens Olympics, 51 weeks from now.