Sprinter wishes Olympics reprieve was even longer

THE weekend reprieve for Irish athletes in pursuit of Olympic qualifying standards was welcomed by sprinter Gary Ryan.

But the Nenagh man, who equalled the national record for the 100m at the recent BUPA Cork City Sports, feels they could have done a little bit more.

“I am pleased they extended the deadline but they did not kill themselves,” he said. “They say it is 20 days when in fact it is only 10 because we only found out on Saturday and it really just means we have one extra crack at it.

“It is a pity they could not have extended it to the national championships at the very least, if not the IAAF deadline. We would have preferred if they did not put a deadline on it at all and just decided to take each individual case as it came.”

He said it would have been a huge boost for the Woodies DIY national championships at Morton Stadium if they had left it a bit longer.

“My problem now is trying to get a decent race before the national championships because I planned obviously to run there.

“To get into a good race at this stage is a bit of a problem before the time. I have been on the phone and the internet for the last 48 hours trying to sort that out.

“Madrid is on next weekend and I am hoping that I may get into that. Whatever happens to me it is so important that I run a fast time. The problem with sprinters is that there are only eight lanes and eight people in each race while you can have up to 20 in a 5k race.”

He admitted there were a lot of athletes struggling at this point, and, the way things are going, there will be some new faces in the sprints in Athens.

“It’s the kind of thing you get from time to time. I was watching the British trials over the weekend and a lot of guys who would normally be contenders for medals are not doing anything right now.”

Since Cork, where he recorded a double and equalled the national record in the 100m, he has taken a little break to treat some niggling injuries including a troublesome calf muscle and generally recharge the batteries.

“After Cork everybody was disappointed for me and such but at the time I was not that disappointed myself because I ran pretty well on the day and that is all you can ask for,” he said.

“The weather on Sunday and Monday would have been ideal, but that’s the story of the year for me - I turn up to race in those places and the weather is great the day after.

“If I get to the Olympics I will have a long season because I can run beyond the Olympics but if I don’t get to the Olympics then all the races afterwards are gone as well.

“To be honest I am excited about it. The graph is on the way up again and hopefully there is another couple of years there. I don’t think I have reached my peak yet.

“I have learned so much this year. I worked awfully hard over the winter and if I can do the same again next winter I will be very happy.

“The next Europeans will probably be my swan song and I am looking forward to doing well there.”