Cragg fails to finish in Monaco

Alistair Cragg's final race before the Beijing Olympics did not go to plan last night as he was forced to pull out of the 3000m at the Monaco Grand Prix meeting.

Cragg, who clocked 7:38.00 in both Paris and London recently, did not run to his usual high standards at Stade Louis II and was tailed off before opting to pull out.

Whereas he had been up with the leaders from the start in London last Saturday, Cragg found himself towards the back of the field as Kenya's Benson Esho led them through 1000m in 2:32.16 seconds.

Looking uncomfortable, the former European Indoor champion became detached from a front-running group of 15 athletes before dropping out.

Kenya's Joseph Ebuya led home a number of his compatriots in a winning time of 7:34.62, with Isaac Songok (7:35.06) and Abraham Chebii (7:36.08) finishing second and third respectively.

It is understood that Cragg's poor run and withdrawal was due to illness and possibly a recurrence of the stomach problems which forced him to miss the recent National championships.

The Irish athletics team will depart for a pre-Olympics holding camp in Matsue, Japan, on Friday.

As of late last night, team manager Patsy McGonagle was unaware of the exact reason for Cragg's failure to finish in Monaco.