Hession prepares for Lausanne 'blockbuster' with easy victory

ATHLETICS NEWS:IF PAUL Hession somehow thought he had it easy in winning the 200 metres at the Cork City Sports on Saturday afternoon all he had to do was remind himself of his next challenge at the Lausanne Grand Prix meeting tomorrow night.

“That’s going to be a blockbuster of a 200,” was how Hession described the showdown against one Usain Bolt, the Olympic champion and world record holder.

“He is only one of many top men in there but I feel this is what I have to do if I’m to reach my goal this summer and that is to make the final at the World Championships in Berlin.”

Amazingly it was the fourth successive victory for Hession in the Cork event, and probably the most convincing.

Brendan Christian of Antigua, who had earlier beaten him in the 100 metres, was a late withdrawal but Hession still looked a class apart in clocking 20.45 seconds, albeit slightly wind-aided, leaving him well clear of England’s Mark Findlay (20.83) with Chris Williams of Jamaica a well beaten third in 20.97.

But if he is going to make that final in Berlin, Hession knows he’ll need to improve on his two-year old Irish record of 20.30 – and racing Bolt tomorrow night may well push him to that.

Hession missed making the Olympic final last year by one place, running 20.32.

“I’m always thinking about making a top-ranked final. I’ve been so close the last two years that perhaps this is the year that it will happen for me, finally.

“What I know is that you need to take on the best if you want to be able to compete against the best and I know how competitive it’s going to be in Berlin.

“That is why I’ve planned an all-action couple of weeks, with three successive top 200 metres races in Lausanne, Lucerne and then London on July 25th, before closing with a 100 metres at the Irish Championships.”

Among the other highlights in Cork was the performance of Robbie Heffernan from nearby Togher in breaking his Irish 3,000 metres walk record by 13 seconds when finishing just a stride behind the top-ranked Mexican, Eder Sanchez, the winner in 11:14.01.

“I still have some sharpening work to do before the World Championships but I’m really delighted with that,” said Heffernan, who was eighth in the Olympics last year.

Other Irish athletes to come up with good performances were 19-year-old Brian Gregan from Tallaght when he powered away to win the 400 metres in 47.02 and Deirdre Ryan in winning the women’s high jump with 1.89 metres.