Record sets O’Dwyer up for Athens

IRISH High Jump sensation Adrian O’Dwyer from Kilkenny yesterday became the 13th Irish athlete to achieve the Olympic A standard when he set an Irish record of 2.30m at a meeting in Algiers.

The previous Irish record of 2.29m was held by Brendan Reilly when he finished 8th in the World Championships in Seville in 1999.

Meanwhile, Athletics Ireland has assembled quality fields for tonight’s Morton Stadium meeting in a bid to secure Olympic qualification for a number of athletes.

Sydney Olympian Tomás Coman will join David McCarthy and Roby Daly over 400m. All three have personal bests outside the required 45.55 sec standard, but organisers hope that the pace of English athletes Sean Baldock and Jarred Deacon may help the Irish in their Athens quest.

Ukranian Andrey Tverdostup and Lulu Basinyi of Botswana complete the strong line-up.

Paul Hession and Gary Ryan chase the 20.59 sec target over 200m and will be joined by Asian 200m champion Fawzi Al Shammari, Irish record holder Paul Brizzel and England’s Dwane Grant and Julian Aran.

Ciara Sheehy will have the Olympic 400m finalist Heide Seyerling and national 400m record holder Karen Shinkins to push her towards the 22.97 standard in the women’s 200m.

In the middle distance events, Olga Raspopova of Russia, with a personal best of 2:56.1, will assist Aoife Byrne, Kelly McNeice and Maura Prendeville in their quest in the women’s 800m.

Elsewhere, Ciaráin Ó Lionarid (DLS Macroom) and David McCarthy (St Augustine’s) will renew rivalry over 1,500m at the Kit Kat Inter-Provincial Tailteann Games in Tullamore’s Harriers Stadium tomorrow.

The duo were in devastating form at the Kit Kat Irish Schools Championships with the Cork man romping to the intermediate 1,500m title while McCarthy took the 800m.

Tom Cross, who despite injury won bronze for Bandon Grammar School at the Irish schools championships in the javelin, has been passed fully fit and will be joined by school mates Harriet Cross, the junior 200m champion, Sarah Bradfield, the junior discus champion, and junior boys’ javelin champion, Philip Burns.

Laura Crowe (Presentation Tralee) was one of the stars of the Irish schools championships and she built on her successes there by running 2:08 for 800m in Germany last weekend.

Three other Kerry athletes, the Prenderville sisters, Aoibheann, Sinead and Sorcha, from Tarbert Community School, could fill the first three places in the walk while Ann Marie Cronin appears set to retain her hammer title.