MARCUS O'SULLIVAN was yesterday on his way home to Philadelphia and out of next week's world indoor athletics championships in Paris.

O'Sullivan, the only athlete to have won the world 1,500 metres title on three consecutive occasions, truncated his European tour after fading to eighth place in a 3,000 metres race in Birmingham on Sunday.

It means, almost certainly, that the Cork man has now closed the book on his championship career but not necessarily, the Grand Prix circuit. On his own admission, he no longer possesses the kind of pace needed to cope with younger rivals in sprint finishes.

As a judge of pace, however, his reputation is world wide and given the current emphasis on record, breaking, there is still a brisk demand for that kind of expertise at the major Grand Prix meetings.

Although the 35 year old Cork man was virtually unbeatable in the 1,500 metres indoor championship in his prime, he never succeeded in breaking into the medals category in major championship competition outdoors.

Yet, the measure of his contribution to world miling is that no European has run more sub four minute miles, with his total of 91 being eclipsed only by New Zealand's John Walker and the American, Steve Scott.

Another Cork athlete, Freda Davern, is also out of the championships in Paris - but not for the same reason as O'Sullivan. She failed by just a fraction of a second to make the qualifying standard for the 800 metres, a tantalising miss given the consistent pattern of her running this season.

It means that Sonia O'Sullivan (3,000m) and Sinead Delahunty (1,500m) are the only female members of a squad which is completed by Gary Ryan (200m), David Matthews and James Nolan (800m), Niall Bruton (1,500m), Mark Carroll (3,000m) and Mark Mandy (high jump).

Catherina McKiernan delivered convincing evidence of her current form with a win in Texas at the weekend. McKiernan took time off from altitude training in New Mexico to finish first in a 10km road race in Dallas in a time of 31 minutes 28 seconds.

It points up a pressing problem for BLE officials who, in moments of doubtful wisdom, decreed that only athletes who competed in either the national inter counties or inter club championships, would be considered as individual entries for the world cross country championships in Turin next month.

McKiernan was still recuperating from a serious injury when the inter counties title was won by Valerie Vaughan at Killenaule in December and she has no plans to abandon her present training programme to present herself in Cork next Sunday for the national inter club championship.