Athletics:A last, desperate case of so near and yet so far for Steven Colvert as his final quest to secure Olympic qualification at the National Championships in Santry has fallen short.
Colvert was targeting the 200 metres A-standard of 20.55, and was temporarily elated when he won his heat in 20.40 – before the wind reading came up as +3.0 metres per second, with +2.0 being the legal limit.
However, Colvert was back on the track some two hours later for the final, only this time his start wasn’t quite as explosive as he clocked 20.78 to win the title. Even if it had been under the 2.55 it wouldn’t have mattered anyway, as the wind was +2.8.
The 21-year-old had run 20.57 last month and despite the great improvement this summer the London Olympics have proven that little step too far. Tomorrow is the final deadline to qualify.
Joanne Cuddihy has already qualified in the 400 metres and so moved down a distance, winning the 200 metres in 23.62, the fastest of her life, but again the wind of +2.5 means it won’t count for record purposes.
Other winners on day one of the championship were Maria McCambridge, who had the A-standard in the women’s marathon but missed out on selection to three other Irish women. There was some consolation here as she won the 5,000 metres in 16.02.50.
There was also a dramatic development in the selection of the women’s 4x400 metres for London, as Joanne Mills won her appeal to Athletics Ireland and will now take her place for London, while Catriona Cuddihy, who was originally named alongside her sister Joanne in the six-woman squad, is suddenly told she’s been left behind.
Mills, the 19 year-old from Ballymena, claimed that her time of 53.89 was significantly better than Cuddihy, whose fastest time over the distance is 54.59.
However, Cuddihy now has the right to appeal her sudden exclusion to the Olympic Council of Ireland, although Athletics Ireland will have no further say in the matter.
