Nolan and McSweeney exit, Chambers grabs silver

ATHLETICS/WORLD INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS:IRISH INTEREST, slight as it was, ended on the first night of the World Indoor Championships in Valencia, Spain, when James Nolan and Ailis McSweeney failed to progress to their respective finals last evening.

Running for the sixth time at World Indoor level, Nolan seemed to be putting his experience to good use in his 1,500-metre heat, but in the frantic dash to the finish he lacked the necessary speed to make the nine-man final.

The Tullamore man, a two-time Olympian, finished sixth in 3:42.12, just short of his season's best, when he needed to make the top two to be sure of qualifying, with the three fastest losers also progressing.

Although he was fifth and looking good at the bell, the 31-year-old Nolan was passed in the last 30 metres by Britain's Michael East, and with that went his chance of qualifying.

Ethiopia's Deresse Mekonnen took the win in 3:39.74, with New Zealand's Nick Willis just a few strides behind in 3:40.66.

The other British hope, James McIlroy - who formerly ran for Ireland - dropped out of the second heat with just under a lap to go, victory there going to the impressive Kenyan Daniel Komen in 3:39.07.

Rashid Ramzi of Bahrain, the former double middle-distance world champion, only got through as a fastest loser in the third and final heat, which was won by another Ethiopian, Mekonnen Gebremedhin, in 3:37.16.

McSweeney was in action earlier yesterday in the heats of the 60 metres, and a fine start helped her through to the semi-finals, her time 7.43 good enough for fourth.

But the 24-year-old Corkwoman could not improve on that later and ended up seventh with a time of 7.46 seconds, well down on Ene Franca Idoko of Nigeria, who then had a disastrous stumble in the final, as the title went to Angela Williams of the US in a personal best of 7.06 seconds.

Last night's session ended with the much-anticipated men's 60-metre final, but it wasn't quite the glorious comeback for the former drug cheat Dwain Chambers of Britain, who was beaten for the gold medal by Nigeria's Olusoji Fasuba.

The tiny yet powerful Fasuba ran a world-leading 6.51 seconds to win his first major title.

Chambers out-dipped the former world champion Kim Collins of St Kitts for the silver, both running 6.65, but as he currently remains banned from Olympic competition, it remains to be seen if Chambers will be seen in a major championships again.

"This is my Olympics," said Chambers, a former European outdoor 100-metre champion, and he appeared quite delighted as he left the track to muted applause.