Ryan races into history with record 200m run

GARY RYAN has hit form at precisely the right moment — and the Nenagh Olympic sprinter highlighted this fact once again at the weekend in Birmingham where he became the first Irishman in history to break 21 seconds for 200m indoors with a 20.99 victory in the final.

And that was after he equalled the existing national record with 21.06 in the semi-finals.

It was also another great weekend for hurdler Derval O'Rourke and Dublin sprinter Ciara Sheehy who finished first and second in their respective events.

But it was spectacular for the Cork starlet who claimed the biggest victory of her career to date when she outpaced British number one Diane Allegrane to win the 60m hurdles in 8.19 secs a time which underscored her consistency.

Sheehy, despite the lane three draw and a modest first bend, finished second in the 200m in 23.64 secs, a performance that left Ryan singing her praises, insisting it had to rank as one of the most powerful runs of her career.

But it was his own performance that left the Nenagh Olympic athlete beaming, coming back from a period of frustration that had left himself wondering if he had any future left in athletics.

"I think I have timed it right," he said as he looked forward to the world indoor championships which begin in Birmingham on March 14.

"I knew things had been going well in training and my run in Belfast was very encouraging, but when I was going into the final in Birmingham I was thinking it was my 11th race in four weeks and I was beginning to feel it.

"But getting under 21 seconds was something I had always dreamed about. This was one of my better days and days like this make up for all the bad ones."

It is almost six years since he set his previous personal best for 200m indoors at the world indoor championships in Paris, when he ran 21.13.

"Right now I feel better than at any other stage in my career. I know I am running better and just knowing that makes a huge difference to your confidence.

"On the warm up track everything in my head was positive. I remember the days when I was injured and everything was negative. Feeling good gives you the freedom to think like that."

He said the track in Birmingham is one of the fastest in the world and he is looking forward to running there again next weekend when he competes in the AAA championships. He finished second in the 200m last year.

"I think I will vary my event," he said. "I could possibly run the 60 metres just for variety and to keep things fresh."

O'Rourke has been in sensational form all season but she claimed the biggest scalp of her career at the weekend when she beat Allegrane.

"It was a very important win for her," her coach Jim Kilty insisted. "This is a great scalp to have on her belt because Diane Allegrane has been the leading light over there for years."

Limerick's Tom Comyns finished third in the men's 200m in a seasonal best of 21.77, while Juliet Claffey cleared 3.40 for third place in the women's pole vault.

O'Rourke and Sheehy also return to Birmingham for the AAA championships at the weekend when a number of athletes from across the world will be guesting in a bid to get experience of the track.

David McCarthy (Celbridge) is just 100th of a second outside the qualifying standard for the 400m and AAI are looking for an opportunity for him to achieve the standard.

They are also looking for an opportunity for 60m record holder Mark Howard to do the standard after the debacle in the heats of the 60m at the national indoors when the timing was out of synch.

As it stands, Gary Ryan and Paul Brizzell have qualified at 200m, Paul McKee at 400m, Sheehy at 200m, Karen Shinkins at 400m and Derval O'Rourke 60m hurdles.

James Nolan, who won a 1,500m race in South Africa a week ago in 3:41 has a standard from last year while Maria Lynch and Maria McCambridge qualified in the 3,000m at the national championships.

Geraldine Hendricken, who qualified at 1,500m, says she will travel instead to the short course cross-country trials in Dunleer that weekend.

International secretary Liam Hennessy said yesterday that she would obviously be taken into consideration for selection if she decided to go to the world indoor championships instead.

"The situation at the moment is that the first two in the national inter-club championships next weekend will gain automatic selection along with the first two in the short course," he said.

"But that leaves just two places to be filled and it would then depend on who would be looking for them.