Davenport in top condition for 10,000

MARIE DAVENPORT will have the rare experience of going to the line in a healthy state for a major championship when she goes in the final of the women’s 10,000m at the Olympic Stadium tonight.

The 29-year-old Clare woman has had a phenomenal season to date thanks to careful planning and now she hopes to take it with her to the line in the Olympic Stadium. She qualified for the Olympics back in early May at Stanford where she posted the 17th fastest time in the world this year at 31:28.78 and if she can reproduce that tonight then she will not be too far away from the front line.

“Apart from one blip I can’t complain,” she said referring to the national championships in Dublin. “I have run 15:08 for 5,000m and 4:12 for 1,500m ­ all personal bests ­ so I am hoping that I can maintain that.

“I went back to the States after the nationals and I have rectified the problem. I am still coached by Ray Treacy and I go to Providence once a week. Things are going well this year. I suffer from exercise-induced asthma and that has been a problem over the years.

“Thankfully I have no problem at the moment and it is the first time ­ apart from the European championships in 2002 ­ it’s been like that. When I went to the world cross-country championships in South Africa it was the same and I had a really good run there.”

Now she is hoping for more of the same when she lines up in a star-studded field that will include the former world and Olympic champion, Fernanda Ribeiro, the only medallist from Sydney where she won bronze.

Also in action today is mountain biker Jenny McAuley, who was unscathed after a training crash yesterday.