Burke to carry Irish hopes in star-studded 400m
Athletes from 20 nations will be in action at Morton Stadium, Santry.
The men’s 400m will feature reigning European champion Iwan Thomas, former world indoor champion Jamie Baulch and 1994 European champion Du’aine Ladejo.
It will also include Americans Calvin Harrison and Jerome Young, and Troy McIntosh, of the Bahamas.
A silver medallist in the high jump at the world junior championships in Lisbon in 1994, Burke, 26, produced a sensational performance to challenge the top 400m runners in the country before settling for third place at the national championships on Sunday.
The Limerick man’s best high jump was produced when he was coached by Drew Harrison in Limerick; now Harrison’s wife, Hayley, has coached him to new heights at 400m.
The presence of McKee and Daly alongside Paul Brizzell, Gary Ryan and Mark Howard will add an interesting dimension to the 200m.
Keith Kline (British Virgin Islands), Sergey Insakov (Latvia), Ken Brokkenburr (USA), Australians Tim Williams and Patrick Johnson, and Dwaine Grant from England, are also included.
Peter Coghlan will fine-tune his preparations for the European championships when he lines up alongside world silver medallist Tony Jarrett in the 110m hurdles.
Ciaran McDonagh will have his final chance to qualify for the European championships in an event that will include Latvian Andrey Tolstic.
The tough Meath native will be motivated after returning from injury to claim the national title last weekend.
New middle-distance sensation Geraldine Hendricken will be in action in the 2002 IAAF Golden League meeting at Stade Luis II in Monaco tonight.
At 32, she has taken centre stage with Sonia O'Sullivan.
O’Sullivan, who competes in Belgium tomorrow evening, will keep a close eye on the women’s 3,000m, which brings together Gabriela Szabo and Paula Radcliffe.
Olympic champion Szabo finished third in Rome last Friday night and will be the Irish record-holder’s big challenger in the 5,000m in Munich in two weeks.
Radcliffe has opted to run the 5,000m at the Commonwealth Games and the 10,000m at the Europeans, where she will chase O'Sullivan's title.
In the men’s 1,500m, Kenya’s Bernard Lagan will again challenge world-record-holder Hicham El Guerrouj, but is unlikely to reverse the Paris result.
The Hercules meeting in Monaco is the fourth stop in the league and has just five athletes left vying for the league jackpot of 50kg of gold.
O'Sullivan will look for a fast time when she lines up for the 5,000m in Dreusdon tomorrow.
She will be joined by Una English and Maria McCambridge, who will look to qualify for the 5,000m.
Mark Carroll, bronze medallist in Budapest, will also look for a 5,000m qualifying standard, while James Nolan, who has the standard at 1,500m, will hope to improve his recent form before deciding whether to go to the Europeans.
Noel Berkeley (Dundrum South Dublin) is set to add to his list of successes in the Irish Runner Five Mile road race in Phoenix Park on Sunday when a field of 1,000 will line up.
The 20th annual Donoughmore seven-mile road race takes place today at 8pm.
The field will include two-time winner and course record-holder Roy Fahy (Leevale), as well as defending champion George Murray (North Cork).
Valerie Vaughan (Blarney-Inniscarra) is holder of the women’s title.
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