Ryan looks to fast track Athens hopes

GARY RYAN has always found The Mardyke something of a happy hunting ground for fast times but he will be looking for something extra today in his Olympic qualifying standard quest at the BUPA Cork City Sports.

“I am going to have to run faster than I ever have,” he said as he looked forward to this afternoon’s 200m which could be one of the meet’s highlights. “It is such a good meet, it gets the butterflies going and the crowd is always great.”

He comes to Cork on the back of a 20.73 run in Italy midweek but admits it has been a funny old season for him that was, as usual, punctuated by illness and injury - bad cold and damaged rib that wrote off June.

“My form has been really good but my times have been lousy,” he said.

“But it was always outside my control. I went to the Caribbean in super shape and ran what I would regard as one of the best races of my life but the conditions were just awful - gale force headwind and rain - and I ended up with a disappointing 20.90.

“There have been other instances but you don’t have control over those things. That is why I am hoping for something special again from Cork - I have run a wind-assisted 20.57 there in the past and 20.69 without wind.”

Young Paul Hession is also hoping for a qualifying standard and moved close enough to reinforce those hopes in Italy when he ran 20.80.

The fields for the sprints in Cork include Tim Abeye, the fastest British runner this year over 100m with 10.10 and Winston Smith of Jamaica who qualified for the Olympics at the trials last weekend, as well as Paul Brizzel, who has also qualified for Ireland.

Ireland’s top 400m runners, Dave McCarthy, Rob Daly and a recovering Tomás Coman will line up alongside Australia’s Casey Vincent, who has already qualified for the Olympics and Jimosola Laursen of Sweden, who also has his sights on Athens. The 4x400m relay squad will also be accommodated on the programme as they rekindle their qualification hopes without national champion and record holder Paul McKee, who has been out with a virus for some time.

Australian Craig Mottram is the favourite for the men’s 1,500m where he will be joined by Sultan Khamis Zamman from Qatar, formerly of Burundi, who has qualified for Athens at 5,000m and wants a 1,500m standard, Abraham Alexis and Sebastian Cosson from France amongst others and Limerick man Liam Reale, who won the junior race at the meet three years ago and finished sixth in the senior event the next year.

Schools champion Colin Costelloe will be chasing the national junior record in this event while Mark Christie from Mullingar, already with the 3,000m record, goes for John Treacy’s national junior record when he lines up alongside last year’s winner, James Getanda and fellow Kenyan Muneria Kiplemo in the 5,000m.

Adrian O’Dwyer, Ireland’s high jump sensation, grabbed an exciting victory last year and he promised more of the same at the Mardyke.

The 19-year-old Kilkenny lad, who posted his qualifying standard for the Olympics in Algiers last week, will enjoy top billing alongside Olympic silver medallist and former world and European champion Sonia O’Sullivan.

His 2.30m performance has put him fifth on the current world list of high jumpers.

“It has certainly opened up a lot of doors for me,” he admitted. “Those few extra centimetres have put me into a different league. I can go to the Grand Prix and Golden League meets. That happens once you get into the top 10 in the world. I have never had the experience of appearance fees or even thinking of getting a manager.”

Derval O’Rourke, who has also qualified for Athens, faces a strong field in the 100m hurdles with the addition of Ghana’s Fida Anim, who has run 11.22 secs and 22.19 secs this year and Donna Fraser, who was fourth in the Sydney Olympics, strengthening the sprints where Ciara Sheehy chases an Olympic qualifying standard.

Emily Maher makes her return, Anna Boyle and UCC’s Ailis McSweeney will also be involved, with New Zealand Commonwealth Games long jump medallist Chantel Brunner doubling up in the 100m.

Sonia O’Sullivan will face Fatiha Fauvel of France, Sharon Cherop of Kenya, Eloise Poppett of Australia and Russian Alena Samokhvalova in the women’s 5,000m.