ATHLETICS/World Championship: So, should we talk about the weather? They say it's been the wettest, windiest few days in Helsinki all year, and it certainly reflects the mood of the Irish. All five of our remaining athletes were in action yesterday, and one by one their World Championship aspirations either crashed or simply fizzled out. Ian O'Riordan in Helsinki
That Irish interest has ended with four days of the championships remaining is certainly disheartening yet not entirely unexpected. Maria McCambridge was probably the most disappointed after finishing 14th of 15 in heat two of the 5,000 metres, her time of 16:05.44 almost a minute short of her best and almost as far off qualification for the final.
For 3,000 metres everything went to plan, McCambridge running wide of the leading group but apparently within herself. But with five laps to go she dropped off, the Ethiopian Meseret Defar taking the field home in 15:13.52.
"I don't know what happened," said the Dubliner, clearly upset.
"Maybe I just can't get it right for championship running."
Earlier in the day there was some expectation on the young shoulders of Eileen O'Keeffe, but her best throw of 64.09 metres in the hammer also fell well short of qualification. The Kilkenny woman hoped to approach her Irish record of 69.36, and while that distance would easily have seen her through to the final (66.73 was the last qualifier), the wind and rain were definitely a factor as most of field threw well below their best.
"I don't think it was nerves," said the 24-year-old, "but maybe a little inexperience. I felt that if I could throw another national record I'd make the final, but it just didn't happen."
O'Keeffe fouled her first throw when misjudging her release and hitting the left netting, but she kept her cool and threw the 64.09 with her second attempt. She needed 66.73 to qualify, but her last throw landed at 63.71.
"My speed in the circle is my strength," she added, "so the conditions definitely didn't help. The circle was half wet and half dry, so I was actually trying to wet it all with my towel."
All the big names progressed, however, led by the two-time, and reigning, champion, Yipsi Moreno of Cuba (72.67).
O'Keeffe leaves Helsinki tomorrow for the World Student Games in Turkey, along with Derval O'Rourke and Paul Hession - who ended their championships in slightly different moods.
O'Rourke was still relatively upbeat after posting seventh in her 100-metre hurdles semi-final, though her time of 13.23 seconds was disappointing even in the conditions.
Hession was out earlier in the day in the quarter-finals of the 200 metres, and ended up fifth in 21.69 - which must have felt like running in slow motion after his 20.40 in Tuesday's heat. Tobias Unger of Germany won in 20.91 with a two-metre tailwind.
"I don't know how the other athletes found it," said Hession, "but I was almost blown out of my lane by a gust of wind around 80 metres. It is a very strange scenario when you run 1.3 seconds slower than the day before. So it's very hard to analyse either run, because both times the wind was so far either side of the norm. It's a wee bit disappointing."
At 22 Hession still has time on his side, but that can't be said for Peter Coghlan. The 30-year-old has been trying for five years now to turn the clock back on his career, and while injuries haven't helped, his seventh-place finish in his heat of the 110-metre hurdles in 14.57 - after crashing into several hurdles - was his most disappointing show yet at a major championship.
It's now six years since Coghlan ran his Irish record of 13.30 - and yet in a startling display of self-belief he announced grand plans for next year: "I'm extremely motivated for next year. I plan to go to the European championships and win a medal there. I'm completely convinced I can do that, even though I know a lot of other people aren't."
