McKee and Shinkins fail to progress past semi-finals

HOPES of an Irish finalist in either the men’s or women’s 400m were dashed last night when Paul McKee and Karen Shinkins went out in their respective semi-finals.

McKee had his place in the final snatched from him in the last 10 metres of a semi-final.

Fast away, he powered the back straight, ran the perfect bend and was a clear third just 10 metres from the line when Marek Plawgo from Poland and Zsolt Szeglet of Hungary, who he had passed earlier on the bend, struggled past to relegate him to fifth place the first four going through.

McKee, who ran 45.92, lost out by just .08 of a second and was, in fact, faster than three of the finalists who went through from the second semi-final, won by David Canal of Spain in 45.86.

For the record, Daniel Caines of Great Britain won McKee's heat in 45.35 from Ingo Schultz of Germany, 45.49, Plawgo, 45.83 and Szeglet 45.84.

Yuriy Borzakovskiy, world indoor 800m champion and twice European indoor 800m champion, elected to run the 400m

and he finished seventh, two places behind McKee in 46.04.

McKee was bitterly disappointed but there could have been nobody more downhearted than Shinkins after she failed to qualify for a place in the women's final.

When the first round heats were scrapped and it was decided to run off three semi-finals, with the first two and three fastest losers to go through, qualification was always going to be difficult. But the Irish record holder was puzzled at the manner in which she lost out.

She finished fourth in her race in 52.50secs and it became obvious after the second semi-final she had no chance of going through. In fact both fastest losers came from the third heat.

During the race Shirkin lost ground on the back straight and although she ran the bend well and was in contention in the finishing straight, she appeared to lose momentum rather than tie up as the finish line approached.

"I never felt the fact they were pulling away from me was a threat," she said. "I just felt I could pull it back but I think I changed gear that little bit too quick and used up a little bit of the fuel I needed coming home."

She hopes to put it behind her and salvage something from a season that promised so much after her bronze medal success at the indoor championships in Vienna.

Eileen O'Keeffe from Kilkenny, the youngest member of the Irish team, finished 15th in her qualifying group of the women's hammer with a best throw of 59.64 metres but will benefit from the experience.

Terry McHugh withdrew from the qualifying rounds of the javelin when he aggravated the knee injury he sustained at the national championships, where he won a world record 19th national senior title.

Jose Manuel Martinez of Spain won a sensational sprint finish in the men's 10,000m, dominated by Dieter Baumann who dictated terms throughout and then got involved in a four-man sprint finish that sent the home fans into raptures.

Martinez won the title in 27:47.65 just .02 of a second ahead of Baumann, with the other Spaniard Jose Rios third ahead of Italian Stefano Baldini who won the marathon title four years ago.

Ireland's Seamus Power succumbed to the early pace set by the German, who took them through the opening kilometre in 2:44.56, before handing the lead to Kamiel Maase of Holland and Rachid Berradi of Italy before another Italian Marco Mazzi took them to 5,000m in 13:59.41.

Soon the field one of the smallest ever began to break up, and by the final kilometre there were just four in contention.Seamus Power finished 16th in 29:43.65.