Cragg ready to mix it with big guns out of Africa

ALISTAIR CRAGG will have some exalted athletics company around him when he contests today’s Olympic 5000m final at the Bird’s Nest Stadium (1.10pm, Irish).

Cragg will face the cream of middle distance running talent including Bernard Lagat, Eliud Kipchoge and the Bekele brothers.

All are amongst the headline acts Cragg referred to when he spoke of the changing face of athletics in his midweek rant against critics of the sport in Ireland who he claimed were stuck in a ‘time warp’ and had little experience of the African runners.