Carroll aims to turn season around

MARK CARROLL will have the opportunity to turn his season around when he lines up for the final of the men’s 5000 metres tomorrow.

The 30-year-old Corkman took a bronze medal in a thrilling finish involving three Spaniards four years ago in Budapest. He would have been coming to Munich confident of at least a repeat but for a whole series of circumstances that upset all his plans.

A damaged knee last December required remedial surgery and wiped out his whole track season.

Even more seriously, it damaged his pre-season preparations for the outdoor track and a planned debut marathon in New York next November.

A dash back to fitness and the mileage that would help him build a base for the marathon left him drained both mentally and physically when he arrived home in Ireland in June.

“I knew I was jaded when I came back,” he said. “I really wanted to win that race in Cork and I suppose I put myself under a lot of pressure.

“But I was tired that day and I carried it through to Rome where there was another disaster.”

He was without a qualifying standard when he went to the National Championships and won both the 1500 metres and 5000 metres titles on the one day.

He was all set to qualify for Munich at a meeting in Belgium but unfortunately he was left stranded at London Stansted and never made it.

“I was disappointed,” he said, “because I knew I was going to have a really good run and now I thought my hopes of getting to Munich had disappeared.

“But I got selected and now I am here and believe me, if I thought I shouldn’t be here, I would be back in America.

“I don’t want to make any predictions right now, but I know I am going to have a good run here and whether or not it’s good enough to win a medal will depend on how fast the others run.

“Alberto Garcia will probably be the one to beat but there are not very many 13:03 men around so we’ll just have to wait and see. I reckon 13.09 will win the title from past experience and I feel I just might be in that kind of shape at this moment.”

He arrived in Munich midweek after a training spell with the Irish Race Walkers in Salzburg.

“Robbie Heffernan set it up and I did not really know what to expect, but it turned out to be excellent.

“The track was superb, the weather was great and I got in some really good training sessions.

“I had some good sessions back in Cork before I left but the weather was awful, wet and windy.”

Carroll was European Junior Champion in 1991 and won the European Indoor 3000 metres title two years

ago. He holds the national record at all distances from 3000 metres upwards and his 13:03.93 for 5000 metres makes him one of the top Europeans around. He has run 3.50.62 for the mile and his 10,000 metres record is 27:46.82.