Carroll misses plane but makes the grade

MARK CARROLL had a new spring in his step when he went training at the UCC complex at the Mardyke yesterday morning having received confirmation from the AAI that he had been selected for the European championships.

The Corkman was to have competed in Belgium on Saturday to prove his current well-being by running the qualifying standard , at least which, at least by his standards, would be a modest run (13:30) given the right conditions.

As it turned out conditions were far from ideal in Deusden where athletes were lashed by rains driven by gale force winds, but he never got to the line. In fact, he never got to the venue. His flight out of Cork was delayed and he missed the connection at Stansted.

But Liam Hennessy, the AAI's international secretary, said yesterday that the selectors did not have any problem adding him to the list when they met to finalise the team for Munich.

He had already posted his qualifying standard last July in Oslo when he ran one of the fastest times by a European 13:08.32, which was bettered only by Alberto Garcia of Spain before things went wrong for him at the world championships in Edmonton.

"It was this time, coupled with his double at the national championships which was very impressive, that made it easy to select him," Hennessy said. "OK he needs a race or two, but he has shown all the signs of an improving athlete and hopefully he will maintain that progress up to the Europeans."

Hennessy admitted that there was a lot of discussion when it came to selecting Una English and Maria McCambridge but, on balance, it was difficult to separate them on Saturday, when conditions were fairly atrocious, and on last year's performances.

"Una has had some very good performances this year and Maria has shown signs that she is coming back to her best so it was decided to go with both," Hennessy said. "OK, we are taking a gamble but I think overall we are doing the right thing."

He said that, overall, it was a good team although there were one or two questions hanging over high-profile athletes like Mark Carroll and Peter Coghlan but they were happy both were getting back to their best.

"Like I said, It was quite obvious from the nationals that Mark has the strength while Peter is coming back to his best as well," he said

He insisted that the European championships were very important in the context of Irish athletics.

"With the qualification standards rising all the time, it is going to be difficult in future to get athletes qualified for the world championships and Olympic Games," Hennessy said.

"That's why I would see more emphasis being placed on events like the European under 23 championships and the World Student Games in future.

David McCarthy, who set a new junior record at 47.77 seconds en route to the final of the world junior championships in Jamaica last week, will compete after all in the individual 400m along with national champion and record holder Paul McKee and Dubliner Rob Daly. Paul Hession will be the third man in the 200m while McKee is named as a reserve.

Karen Shinkins, already named at 400m, will also compete in the women's 200m on the back of her 23.60 sec run back in May.

The other additions are, of course, of course, Mark Carroll at 5,000m and Una English and Maria McCambridge in the women's 5,000m.