Cragg suffers achilles injury

It has emerged that Alistair Cragg's withdrawal from the 3000m at Tuesday night's Grand Prix meeting in Monaco was not down to illness - the Irish middle distance star dropped out due to an Achilles injury.

Cragg failed to finish the 3000m at Stade Louis II and while initial thoughts were that he did not feel right on the night, Ireland athletics team manager Patsy McGonagle confirmed last night that the 28-year-old has an Achilles problem.

Irish team doctor, Dr Bill Cuddihy, is tending to the injury before Cragg flies out to Germany for further assessment and treatment.

The Johannesburg-born runner, who has been in good form this summer, also suffered an Achilles injury when he dropped out of the 5000m final at the 2006 European Championships in Gothenburg.

He is the fourth Irish athlete to sustain a pre-Olympics injury - Joanne Cuddihy (calf), Eileen O'Keeffe (knee) and Derval O'Rourke (groin) are also nursing knocks ahead of next month's Games.

Cragg is planning to double up in Beijing and compete in both the 1500m and 5000m events.

The heats for the metric mile take place on Friday, August 15, the semi-finals are two days later with the final down for decision on Tuesday, August 19.

The 5000m heats have been scheduled for the following night (Wednesday, August 20).

McGonagle said the Irish management remain 'very hopeful' that Cragg's latest injury will clear up in time and not derail his double plans.

The Irish athletics team will fly out from Dublin tomorrow, bound for their pre-Olympics training camp in Matsue, Japan. Cragg is due to link up the team in Frankfurt before flying on to Japan.