High hopes for Heffernan in Helsinki walk

FEW athletes in Helsinki have made more sacrifices than Robert Heffernan and the 27-year-old Togher man will be hoping to reap the rewards in the 20k walk today (4.40pm Irish time).

The training season started brightly as he opened his campaign with a third place behind his sometime training partner, Francisco Javier Fernandez from Spain, in a 10k in Almeria, and then finished ninth at the Grand Prix in Tijuana in March.

But then he succumbed to a hip problem which required a hefty bout of physiotherapy before departing to Poland for a spell under his coach, the legendary Robert Korzeniowski.