NIALL BRUTON is through to the semi finals of the 1,500 metres championship on Thursday after finishing third in the first of five heats in the early morning sunshine of Atlanta.
He will be joined there by fellow Dub liner Shane Healy, through as one of the fastest losers, but sadly, there will be no return visit to the stadium for Marcus O'Sullivan.
O'Sullivan, attempting to squeeze another season out of a protracted career, missed the cut by just seven hundredths of a second after finishing sixth in a time of 3 minutes 38.16 seconds in the heat won by Hicham El Guerrouj.
Later, he announced that he was retiring from major championship competition, but he will continue to involve himself on the Grand Prix circuit in the short term.
It was Bruton's lot to be drawn in the fastest first round heat in Olympic history, with the Kenyan Laban Rotich crossing the line in 3:35.88, just ahead of Holland's Marko Koers and Bruton.
Major 1,500 metres titles have been won in slower times in recent years and he made no attempt to disguise the fact that the effort involved had drained him mentally and physically.
"The plan was to stay with the pace and make no mistakes. I thought I ran positively, I felt strong over the last 600 metres, but now I'm just a little dizzy."
Tactically, the race was decided 600 metres out when the first three, together with Britain's Kevin Mckay, suddenly put light between themselves and the pack. From there on, it was relatively trouble free, but up front the pace still never slackened as Bruton took turns with Rotich and Koers to dispute the lead.
Given the fact that there are still two rounds remaining in the championship, it may prove a profligate waste of energy, but the encouraging aspect from Bruton's viewpoint was that he handled the heat and humidity quite comfortably.
Healy, exuberant as ever, made light of the fact that he failed to gain one of the automatic qualifying places in the third heat. Instead, he preferred to emphasise the fact that he was always with the pace and that he was still full of running over the last 400 metres.
Indeed, he might well have finished in the first three had he not run into the back of the tiring Mohammed Suleiman at a time when he was searching for space. With so much left in the tank he was entitled to feel aggrieved at having to wait and worry until the fastest losers were confirmed. Hopefully, he will have profited from the experience by the time he comes back on track.
For Marcus O'Sullivan, the pain of elimination was made that much sharper by the knowledge that technically he could scarcely have run a better race. Third behind El Guerrouj and William Tanui going down the back straight for the last time, he was still holding his place as they came off the curve. Then the pursuit converged on either side of, him, however, and in a matter of strides he was overtaken.
Susan Smith, competing in the 400 metres hurdles semi final, set a new national record when she came fifth in a time of 54.93, beating her own previous mark of 55.09. Smith, never in contention for a final place, ran valiantly to take fifth place.
Ireland's David Matthews, seeking to rediscover the verve which gave him such a high rating last season, was still some way from the answer after finishing fifth in the semi final of the 800 championship in a time of 1:47.83.
Matthews, who had barely survived in the preliminaries on Sunday, was out classed in a field in which the top three finishers Norverto Tellez (Cuba), David Kiptoo (Kenya), and Vebjoern Rodal (Norway) were all inside 1:44.00.
Nick Sweeney's challenge for a medal, once a source of some optimism for his supporters, fizzled out tamely when he failed to qualify for the final of the discus championship. In the end, he missed the last of the six qualifying places on offer in Group A by just 54 centimetres.
Other Irish athletes competing yesterday included Deirdre Gallagher, who was 25th in the 10k walk, and Tom McGuirk, who bowed out of the 400 metres hurdles after finishing fifth in his heat.
