Heffernan walks tall in 20k event

ROBERT HEFFERNAN posted the second fastest time of his career for the 20k walk at the Grand Prix of Race Walking in La Coruna yesterday when he finished fifth in 1:20:55 to highlight his return to form in advance of the Olympics.

However, there was disappointment for the other Irish walkers in action including Gillian O’Sullivan who failed to finish her event, causing some concern.

The world championship silver medallist has been troubled by a slight injury which was affecting her style in recent times and when she picked up two warnings inside the first 5k yesterday she pulled out.

Olive Loughnane was disqualified while Jamie Costin, who was laid low by a virus a week earlier, also pulled out of his event.

But Robert Heffernan, who spent all of last season injured, built on his world cup performance to finish fifth in his event and he ended up just three tenths of a second outside of his national record.

Mark Carroll won the 10,000m in Vancouver over the weekend in 28:07.33 which was outside his target of 27:49.00 which is the Olympic qualifying standard.

The race which was set up as an attempt on the Olympic standard developed into a tactical affair and Carroll, who was running only his second 10k on the track having broken the national record on his first attempt, won that ahead of Teodora Vega of Mexico (28:08.22) and Mike Donnelly who was credited with the same time.

Karen Shinkins finished third in the women’s 400m in Seville in 52.51 which is a second outside the Olympic qualifying standard.

And Gareth Turnbull also failed in his attempt at an Olympic qualifying standard in the Oregon Track Classic where he finished behind Laban Rotich in a time of 3:40.44.

Peter Coghlan made the breakthrough he has been seeking all season when he won the 110m hurdles in Loughborough in 13.76 to reinforce his Olympic qualification hopes.

Ciaran O’Connell won the invitational 800m there in a smart 1:49.30 while Mark Kenneally finished second in the 3,000m in 7:59.08.

Derval O’Rourke posted a seasonal best when she finished third behind Diane Allaghgreen and Julie Pratt in the 100m hurdles in 13,39 secs.

Taneisha Robinson set a new national record in the women’s triple jump at 13.01m while Ciara Sheehy finished second in the 200m in 23.73 secs.

Jer O’Donoghue came off a slow start to record 10.70 in the 100m while Anna Boyle did 11.88 and UCC’s Ailish McSweeney did 11.95 in the women’s 100m and Aoife Byrne’s 2:04.50 in the women’s 800m to leave the selectors with some serious thinking to do when they sit down to name the Europa Cup team.