Making finals will be reason enough to celebrate

Athletics/World Championships:The first question most people ask about an Irish athletics team concerns medal prospects, and the reality is there aren't any of those among the 14 athletes selected yesterday for next month's World Championships in Osaka, Japan.

Their qualification alone has probably been, for several, something to celebrate.

Yet, there are some in the squad with the ability to make a final, and given the extraordinary competitiveness of these championships in recent years that would definitely be something to celebrate. In that regard, the main prospects are Alistair Cragg, Derval O'Rourke, Eileen O'Keeffe and Paul Hession - although they may still need to perform better than ever before to do so.

With the championships still some five weeks away, starting in Osaka on August 25th and running until September 2nd, the final closing date for qualifying standards remains August 8th - although there are few others still in contention to join the team.

Among them, however, is Liam Reale, who has the B standard over 1,500 metres, having run 3:38.65 last year.

Reale's best this season is, however, an unremarkable 3:42.86, and in managing only third at last weekend's national championships he has obviously fallen short of the required form, although there is still time to change that.

Others still on the fringe of selection are Deirdre Ryan in the high jump, Ciara Sheehy in the 200 metres and James Nolan in the 1,500 metres - but they will need to show significant improvement if they are to get the nod.

Yet, the team manager, Patsy McGonagle, maintains the door to selection is still open.

"This is the initial draft of the team for Osaka," he said. "We will be monitoring several athletes' form and results over the coming weeks, so we may well see more names added to this list before we head off."

Ireland's director of athletics, Max Jones, spoke of the ambitions of the team, underlining the relevance of finals.

"This is a small, select team that is quite strong and it can be more competitive at a world level than Ireland has been for several years. We have athletes who can challenge to get into finals in Osaka with the focus of the Beijing Olympics being only one year away.

"I am looking forward to some world-class performances from an exciting Irish team."

Cragg, meanwhile, improved his 5,000-metre best to 13:07.10 on Saturday and is ranked 12th in the world and fastest European.

Surprisingly, nobody has broken 13 minutes for the distance this year, and if Cragg can stay mentally focused he looks a definite finalist.

And after that, who knows?

Hession's latest Irish record over 200 metres, 20.30 seconds, him joint 15th in the world, while O'Rourke's season's best of 12.98 leaves her only 35th-best in the world, though she clearly intends improving on that come Osaka.

The two 400-metre runners, David Gillick and Joanne Cuddihy, are eyeing semi-finals.

David Campbell guaranteed his selection with a superb double at Santry, winning the 800 metres and 1500 metres, and will make his first appearance at this level, as will Fionnuala Britton, who joins another Wicklow runner, Róisín McGettigan, in the 3,000-metre steeplechase.

The hammer thrower O'Keeffe is now ranked 13th in the world following her national record throw of 73.21 at the weekend.

The team for Osaka also includes four walkers.

Robert Heffernan and Olive Loughnane qualified for the 20km race, and Colin Griffin and Jamie Costin go in the daunting 50km distance.

Ireland Team

Men

Paul Hession (Athenry AC)100m & 200m

David Gillick (Dundrum South Dublin)400m

Dave Campbell (St Coca's AC)800m

Alistair Cragg (Clonliffe Harriers)5,000m & 10,000m

Robert Heffernan (Togher AC)20km walk

Colin Griffin (Ballinamore AC)50km walk

Jamie Costin (West Waterford AC)50km walk

Women

Joanne Cuddihy (UCD AC)400m

Mary Cullen (North Sligo AC)5,000m

Derval O'Rourke (Leevale AC)100m hurdles

Fionnuala Britton (Slí Chualainn)3,000m steeplechase

Róisín McGettigan (Slí Chualainn)3,000m steeplechase

Olive Loughnane (Loughrea AC)20km walk

Eileen O'Keeffe (Kilkenny City Harriers)hammer