Olympic contingent in need of a positive send-off from Santry

ATHLETICS/National Championships: It could be just bad timing but there won't be much pre-Olympic optimism floating around the National Championships in Santry over the next two days.

Ten of the 14 Athens-bound athletes will compete, yet most of those will be hoping their form shows some improvement on that of recent weeks.

When the final entries were announced yesterday it became clear some of the final Olympic countdowns were not going to plan. Among the late defections this weekend through injury or illness are Cathal Lombard (5,000 metres), Adrian O'Dwyer (high jump) and Derval O'Rourke (100 metres hurdles).

Both Lombard and O'Dwyer are nursing minor knee injuries, not serious enough to threaten their Olympic participation, but enough to justify such caution. O'Dwyer, being the eccentric he is, will still travel from Kilkenny anyway and compete in tomorrow's novelty event, the 56 lbs for distance.

O'Rourke had a real scare earlier this week when she ended up in a Greek hospital just hours before she was due to compete in Thessaloniki. Feared appendicitis was later downgraded to a virus, but she won't be taking any risks this weekend either.

Nick Sweeney, who finally got ratification of his Olympic-qualifying discus throw of 64.12 metres, has also decided against competing and instead is trying to arrange a pre-Olympic training camp ahead of the opening ceremony on August 13th.

Gillian O'Sullivan, as reported yesterday, has been hampered by a lower-back injury and while she is due to start in this afternoon's 5,000-metre walk, the World Championship silver medallist hasn't trained as well in recent weeks as she would have liked. Her performance in Santry should tell something about her form going to Athens.

Despite another poor run in Madrid last Saturday, Sonia O'Sullivan remains focused solely on the 5,000 metres in Athens.

But she, too, will want to show something more encouraging in tomorrow's 1,500 metres - which includes four other Irish runners who have clocked faster times this season, led by Freda Davoren's four minutes 9.07 seconds.

Other Athens-bound athletes out to impress themselves as much as the crowd will be Alistair Cragg in the 1,500 metres, his first race in his adopted country. Walkers Jamie Costin and Robert Heffernan have enjoyed a productive spell of training and will put that to the test in this afternoon's 10,000-metre event - the first race of the day, at noon.

Unfortunately there won't even be a head-to-head worth raving about. James Nolan, building for the 1,500 metres in Athens, will drop down to the 800 metres - and thus avoid a repeat of last year's memorable clash with Gareth Turnbull. In fact Turnbull is reportedly running the 5,000 metres - as is Mark Carroll.

"I've nothing to prove there," said Nolan yesterday. "I'm going for a fast 1,500-metre time in Belgium next Saturday, so it's much more important for me to get some speed in my legs. That Turnbull thing is done and dusted. Those demons are long gone.

"But there's no way I'm avoiding him. I'm going to the Olympics now and I'm not going to change my plans for something like that. The crowd might relish it, but that doesn't bother me. I just want to get as much speed as I can, and I do feel very good about my running at the moment."

Paul Brizzel is the only sprinter building towards Athens but his form over 200 metres is still a long way off his best. In fact it's unlikely he'll be able to hold Paul Hession in this afternoon's final - if Brizzel even runs.

The 21-year-old Hession is still targeting the 20.59 seconds listed as the A standard for Athens - even if the Olympic Council of Ireland are no longer accepting times despite August 9th being the formal cut-off date. Ironically, Hession is the one athlete really running into form as Athens approaches.