Ryan to hang up his spikes

Irish 100 metre record holder Neil Ryan has decided to hang up his spikes after failing to reach next week's European Championships in Budapest. It was hoped that Ryan would travel in either the individual event or the 100 metre relay, but was turned down in both when BLE announced the final team earlier this week.

Last season he recorded the Irish record of 10.46 seconds in Riga that qualified him for the World Championships in Athens. The year before that he was one of the selected few that made the event at the Atlanta Olympics. Roman Linscheid has been confirmed on the Irish team for next week's championships. His 71.01 metre throw in the US last month was accepted by BLE and he has been added to the squad.