Carroll on right track for Athens glory

WITH Athens looming, Irish athletics got another much-needed boost in advance of the Olympic Games when Mark Carroll finished second in the 3,000m at the Gugi Meeting in Linz on Monday night where Freda Davoren turned in another superb performance to finish third in the women’s 1,500m.

Carroll, who won the 5,000m title and finished third in the 1,500m at the national championships a week earlier, showed that he might just be about to reap the rewards of his stint at the altitude training came in St. Moritz at just the appropriate time.

He appeared to have Monday night’s race at his mercy after taking control off a slow pace with a kilometre remaining and he held the lead until the finishing straight when he was attacked by the two Algerians who had been sitting on him earlier. Khoudir Aggoune struggled past to win in 7:47.77 with Carroll second in 7:48.03.

It was well outside the national record which he set at 7:30.36 in Monaco in 1999 but the manner in which the Corkman took control of the race when it appeared to be deteriorating into a pedestrian affair at 2,000m was impressive.

His girlfriend, Amy Rudolph, pipped Freda Davoren for second place in the women’s 1,500m. Both women are chasing qualifying standards but the entrenched attitude of the OCI right now would indicate that a standard for Davoren would just be a matter of personal satisfaction.

On foot of her brilliant run in the national championships when she snatched the 1,500m title from Roisin McGettigan with Sonia O’Sullivan watching from a distance and her powerful performance in Thessalonika, this was another major step forward for the UCC graduate.

She tracked Jennifer Toomey of the USA with confidence and, at one time looked to be capable of overtaking her, but in the end she had to be content with third place behind the two Americans in 4:07.73.

“Both performances in Linz were very impressive,” said AAI’s International Secretary Liam Hennessy.

At the weekend he watched Alistair Cragg post a new career best time for 5,000m at Crystal Palace to boost his Olympic challenge and then Maria McCambridge beat the A standard for Athens when taking third in the 5,000m at Heusden-Zolder.

Pat Hickey, President of the Olympic Council of Ireland, was pretty adamant on Monday that he would not be adding any more names to the team for Athens at this point.

“Anyway we have submitted a letter to the OCI this evening making a case,” Liam Hennessy said. “In fact we are also making cases for some athletes who have achieved B standards - namely Peter Coghlan and Karen Shinkins who have beaten their A Standards on numerous occasions and Tomas Coman who was very impressive at the national championships.

“Obviously in the case of Paul Hession we could not make a submission as Paul Brizzel has achieved the A standard. But we feel that there is a very good case to be made for Maria McCambridge.”