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.

Eleven of the 15 man field have run faster than Cragg this season, but Irish team manager Patsy McGonagle doesn’t want the Athens finalist to be overawed by that statistic, the occasion or the competition. “He has to get in there with the African lads, mix it up and see where it takes him,” said McGonagle yesterday.

“I have yet to talk to him about how he will approach the race. I have left him alone today because we have been with the walkers.

“The approach in the heats was that it was just another race. I told him that we have been down many a tunnel (disappointed) and we just can’t go down this tunnel again in the same way.

“That was the kind of reaction that got the result earlier in the week. Now I will put it to him that he has got to engage and he has to stay engaged. He has got to be in the middle of it and has got to have a race tactic in the middle of it.”

The Donegal man believes Cragg received a much-needed shot to his esteem when recording the sixth fastest time in the heats.

“This has given him a great boost,” he said. “It was a crossroads situation for him. I’d be very confident that he will be competitive. His confidence has risen after the heats.”

Meanwhile Martin Fagan will be Ireland’s last Olympic athlete in competition when he contests Sunday’s marathon (12.30am, Irish).The Mullingar man has been using state-of-the-art technology to help him train after he aggravated a leg injury sustained in the Dubai marathon when he secured qualification in January.

“I was fortunate enough that I could train on an anti gravity machine — an anti gravity treadmill — you can run pretty much even with a broken leg you can go anywhere from 5% of your body weight,” said the 25-year-old who training in Flagstaff Arizona.

“It really helped me. Aerobically it keeps you fit and it helps your running stride and such it is a lot better than a bike. The problem is there are so very few of them available because they are so expensive. Fortunately enough I got in there and used it as much as I could. You can run 100 miles a week on it. It kept me fit.”

He added: “Everything is okay. It has been pretty smooth leading up to the Olympics. Obviously I am still nervous because I have never really had an injury until this year and it can be quite a reality check. Every day I am looking for signs of that injury, every niggle I get I notice.”