Peter Coghlan will be looking to prove once again he can run with the best in the world when he lines up in a quality 110 metre hurdles at the IAAF Golden League meeting in Brussels this evening.
After missing a spot in the World Championship final in Seville last week by just one place and 0.03 of a second, Coghlan still believes he can improve his Irish record of 13.30 seconds he set last month.
World champion Colin Jackson will be absent as he focuses on the USA v Great Britain match in Glasgow tomorrow, but the nine-man race will include the silver medallist from Seville, Anier Garcia of Cuba, Tony Dees of the USA, who was fourth, and the other leading American, Mark Crear.
The Van Damme Memorial meeting in Brussels will also mark the first track appearance of James McIlroy since he made the surprise decision to declare for Great Britain two weeks ago. After spending the last two months training in London, McIlroy will have his first competitive outing over 800 metres since running one minute 46.20 seconds in Helsinki in June.
He faces the world record holder and now three-time world champion, Wilson Kipketer of Denmark, and the runner-up in Seville, Hezekiel Sepeng of South Africa. But according to McIlroy's new agent, Kim McDonald, the Larne native is back to his best form and is capable of around the 1:44 mark.
Ciaran McDonagh was also invited to compete in the long jump following his 10th-place finish in the World Championships, but the talented Meathman will miss the remainder of the season with an ankle injury.
The pressure, meanwhile, is mounting on both Kipketer and Gabriela Szabo of Romania - the remaining contenders in the $1 million Golden League jackpot - as they go in search of their last but one victory which would ensure them an equal share of the spoils. The final meeting is in Berlin next Tuesday.
Elsewhere, the new 1,500 metre world champion, Hicham El Guerrouj, will make a move up to the 3,000 metres for the first time with the aim of attacking the world record of 7:20.67, set almost exactly three years ago. That race will also feature the current record holder, Daniel Komen of Kenya, as well as the new 5,000 metre world champion, Salah Hissou of Morocco.
