James Nolan, the accomplished UCD athlete, will have much to prove when he makes a delayed departure to Gothenburg this morning for the European Under-23 championships there at the weekend.
After being de-selected on Monday because of a muscular injury sustained in the national championships, Nolan was back in the squad yesterday after assurances that the damage was not extensive. Now he finds himself under increased pressure to perform creditably in Sweden if he is to join the senior squad for the World Championships in Seville next month.
In naming him yesterday to join James McIlroy and David Matthews in the line-up for the 800 metres championship in the World Championships, the selectors added the proviso that he must convince them of his fitness during his stay in Gothenburg. "We need to be assured that he has, in fact, recovered sufficiently well to do himself justice in the World Championships and that can only be assessed by the way he runs next weekend," said a spokesman. Disturbingly, there are also doubts about the well-being of McIlroy who has not built on the promise of some outstanding runs on his entry to major international competition last summer. The Ulsterman, who has now aligned himself with Kim McDonald's runners, has suffered from a mysterious illness in recent months and it remains to be seen if he can recover full racing fitness before the world tests. Overall, there are no major surprises in the squad for Seville, although Mark Carroll's nomination for the 1,500 metres in addition to the 5,000 metres championship may cause a few raised eyebrows. Despite his thrilling win in the metric mile at Santry last Sunday, Carroll is thought to be focusing on the longer distance in Spain, a view which is reinforced by his programme over the next 10 days. After competing in a 1,500 metres race at Barcelona this evening, he moves up to the two miles event in the London Grand Prix and will then race over 3,000 metres at Monte Carlo. That suggests he will decide to bypass the 1,500 in Seville and in that eventuality, Niall Bruton, Brian Treacy and Daniel Caulfield could yet emerge as contenders for eleventh-hour selection. Bruton, guilty of tactical immaturity when losing out to Carroll in a photo finish last Sunday, believes he is still capable of pulling out a big run and will be hoping to make the point when he takes on the Corkman in a return meeting in Barcelona. Gary Ryan and Paul Brizzell, who fought out a memorable 200 metres final at Santry, are both selected and there is recognition also for Paul McBurney, the Ulsterman who has dominated domestic 400 metres competition this season.
Despite the loss of Tom McGuirk, the selectors will stand by their original decision to enter a 4 x 400 metres relay team if Thomas Coman has recovered from the injury which kept him out of the national championships. Sadly, there is no place for Terry McHugh, who for so long identified the commitment of home-based athletes. Like Bruton and Matthews, McHugh will be in action at Bergen this evening, but at this stage it will require a substantially improved performance to persuade the selectors to reconsider the claims of the javelin champion. Nick Sweeney, Pat McGrath and Brendan Reilly will now shoulder Irish hopes in the field events. And for Reilly it marks a significant change of direction in a career which saw him compete at World and European championship level for Britain in recent years.
Susan Smith, approaching her best form in the hurdles, will lead the women's team which, as anticipated, includes fellow Waterford athlete Elaine Fitzgerald and the equally talented Karen Shinkins from Newbridge. With Sonia O'Sullivan taking a break from competition, Ireland will not be represented in any of the women's long-distance races, a regrettable omission for a country which has contributed so much to this facet of athletics. In announcing the squad yesterday, BLE said that Catherina McKiernan had been pre-selected for the marathon last January but found herself unable to take up the invitation to run in Seville.
