A round-up of other sports stories in brief...
Alshammar stripped of her record over swimwear ruling
SWIMMING: Therese Alshammar of Sweden was stripped of a world record yesterday when it was discovered she wore two swimsuits during a race at the Australian national championships. Swimming Australia officials disqualified Alshammar after a five-hour investigation found she had broken a newly-introduced rule on swimwear.
The 31-year-old immediately protested the decision but later withdrew her appeal after the ruling, introduced in Australia just 17 days ago, was explained to her.
Alshammar was all smiles when she broke her own 50 metres butterfly world record during the mornings heats at Sydneys Olympic pool. She stopped the clock at 25.44 seconds, slicing 0.02 seconds off the existing world record of 25.46 she set at a meet in Barcelona in June 2007.
The Swede is the reigning 50 butterfly world champion after winning the title at Melbourne in 2007 and is among the favourites to win this years world championships in Rome.
Keane wins at Broadmeadows
EQUESTRIAN: Defending champion Tholm Keane recorded his first victory in this year’s Horse Sport Ireland/Guidam spring tour when landing the fifth leg of the series yesterday afternoon at the Broadmeadows Equestrian Centre in Co Meath, reports Margie Mcloone.
Fifteen of the 40 starters made it through to the jump-off round with Keane and Ronan Tynan’s 13-year-old Diamond Serpent gelding Redmills Krafty Jack stopping the clock on 28.92, one and a half seconds faster than Conor Drain with Anthony Smyth’s Shanroe Penny.
Drain (16), who was again crowned the TRI leading young rider, jumped back to the top of the spring tour standings as he has accumulated 29 points with Keane next on 24, one point ahead of Sunday’s winner John Floody. Next Sunday, the series moves north to Kernans EC in Crossmaglen.
Irish team not eligible for world event
CYCLING: The Irish team pursuit squad has learned it will not be eligible to take part in this months’ world track championships in Poland, having being unable to secure a wild card for the event, writes Shane Stokes.
The quartet of David O’Loughlin, David McCann, Paul Healion and Martyn Irvine had made steady progress of late, finishing seventh in the World Cup in Beijing in January and then fifth in last month’s World Cup meet in Copenhagen. Their national record-breaking time of four minutes 11.587 seconds put them less than a second outside the ride-off for the bronze medal.
The team have a current world ranking of 11th despite riding just two out of the five rounds. This ranking would normally earn them a place in the worlds; however, UCI rules state entry to the team pursuit requires a country to have had participants in at least one event at four of the World Cups, something Ireland did not do.
