Lombard times it to perfection

Athletics News round-up: On a weekend that truly kick-started the Irish Olympic countdown, a small meeting at Stanford University was the unlikely stage for several breakthrough performances, led by Cork's Cathal Lombard.

An Irish 10,000-metre record was just one reward for his third place at the Californian venue, and three others - Sonia O'Sullivan, Alistair Cragg and Marie Davenport - won't forget this meeting in a hurry either.

Closer to home in Naumburg, Germany, Gillian O'Sullivan faced her first real test of the season at the World Race Walking Cup, and her eighth-place finish in the 20km race emphasised how difficult it will be to find medals in Athens. It was a creditable result against all the Olympic hopefuls but it also shows that a repeat of her medal performance at the World Championships will be asking a lot.

O'Sullivan clocked 68 minutes and one second, a season's best, behind Russia's world champion Yelena Nikolayeva, now 38, who took the win in 1:27.24.

She had the satisfaction of beating the reigning Olympic champion, Liping Wang of China, and comes away with the knowledge that she at least mixed it with the leaders all the way.

"I am quite happy with that," she said afterwards. "All my training is geared towards Athens and this is a step in the right direction."

Lombard's display over 10,000 metres was pure class, his clocking of 27 minutes 33.53 seconds the sort of time you normally put after an African name.

He creamed 13 seconds off Mark Carroll's Irish record and also went 16 seconds under the Olympic A standard.

Lombard had been quietly building for this run. His 13:19.22 for 5,000 metres last summer marked his first major breakthrough and he'd promised something like this would follow. His best before this was 28:05.27.He has qualified for both distances in Athens but the 10,000 metres will be his target.

There were quality athletes in front of him, with Meb Keflezighi, the Eritrean-born American, winning in 27:24.10. The young Kenyan Thomas Kiplitan was second in 27:32.30.

Sonia O'Sullivan has already secured her Olympic qualifying time, and ran over 5,000 metres to prove her form in training could be transferred to the track. By winning in 14:58.43 she emphatically proved her case.

"It was a good start," said the 34-year-old, "and now I can plan my season properly."

Running alone from the 2,000-metre point didn't help, and she "felt the time slipping away" but a 65.5 final lap brought her home under the 15-minute mark.

Next up was Alistair Cragg in the men's 5,000 metres and he'd only one thing on his mind: Olympic qualification. When the pace slowed a little after 3,000 metres he just put the foot down and raced alone for the last four laps, finishing almost half a lap clear of second place. But he had achieved his goal, lowering his best to 13:16.98 and slipping well under the 13:21.5 needed to book his place to Athens.

"That was a little harder than I thought," he said. "But perhaps that's why it's the A standard. But the immediate feeling from tonight is like taking a big boulder off my foot. Now I can go to Europe this summer and get into one of those crazy sub-13s and see what I can really do."

Rounding off the good-news stories was Marie Davenport, who also earned Olympic qualification when taking second over 10,000 metres - again by lowering her best to 31:28.78. And she did it in style, finishing second to Kenya's Sally Barsosio.

Back in Naumburg, Robert Heffernan was best placed Irishman in the men's 20km race, finishing 27th in 1:22.58.