Rarely has an Irish athlete made such a phenomenal debut on the grand prix circuit as James McIlroy's did in the 800 metres at Nice on Thursday evening. It's even more rare for an athlete to improve so remarkably in 12months.
This time last year, McIlroy was inspired by his younger sister, Emma, to take up athletics. After trying the triple jump, steeplechase and javelin, he eventually decided on the 800 metres. He struggled to break two minutes first time out, but quickly got down to one minute 51.8 seconds at the national championships at the end of the season. In Nice, he took more than five seconds off that mark to run a personal best of 1:45.32.
His run in the national championships was enough to convince the Irish selectors at BLE to recruit the services of McIlroy, a native of Larne, Co Antrim, at international level - a decision that has left the British federation shaking their heads at the missed opportunity.
"I wasn't going to wait forever," says McIlroy. "If you get an offer from one place you're not going to wait to get one from somewhere else."
After winning his debut for Ireland over 1,500 metres at the Europa Cup in Lithuania last month, McIlroy has been grabbing attention by dropping his 800 metre time, first to 1:47.41, then to a Northern Ireland record of 1:46.7 on June 14th. His performance at Nice now ranks him third on the all-time Irish rankings, behind national record holder David Matthews and Marcus O'Sullivan.
The talent becomes even more impressive when you consider that the 21-year-old has already been an under-17 golf international (he now plays off a four handicap) and played on the Northern Ireland soccer team at under-16 level. He even had professional ambitions and had trials with Doncaster Rovers and Larne Town.
McIlroy has been carefully guided by his coach, Sean Kyle, husband of well-known Irish athlete Meave, who have both taken McIlroy under their wing with amazing success at the Ballymena and Antrim club.
"I spotted the talent early on and spread the word that he was worth watching," says Sean. "A Northern Ireland squad was sent to three different meetings and no Ballymena athletes were involved. James would have gladly run for Britain, but no one ever asked him. Ireland made the first offer, so obviously we weren't going to turn down the chance for international competition."
It's a huge tribute to the Kyles that McIlroy has made such an impact this season. "We took him out of competition for three weeks before Nice, which is a difficult decision for any athlete," says Sean. "He was like a caged lion by the time he got to the line, so we were confident of something special."
Confusion in even getting to Nice didn't help his grand prix debut, although McIlroy took it all in his stride. "We were running around on Wednesday evening after loads of problems with his entry to Nice," adds Meave. "Tickets went missing and he was entered as `L Roy', which didn't help either. But he still ran a near perfect race - way beyond what his experience suggests."
Tomorrow McIlroy is back on the track for an 800 metres in Gateshead, and next weekend it's the national championships in Santry. "We're not sure if he'll run the 800 or 1,500," says Sean. "Long term, his potential lies over the three-and-three-quarter laps. This year the national 800 metres record of 1:44.82 is a possibility, as well as a strong run in the European Championships. Still, he'll be just 23 for Sydney, which is probably still before his peak so there's plenty of time."
Meanwhile, Sonia O'Sullivan headed to the US yesterday after her highly encouraging 3,000 metres also at Nice. Despite being edged out by the Moroccan Zahra Ouaziz, her time of 8:28.82 was her fastest for three years and put her back on course for the European Championships 5,000 metres next month. O'Sullivan is among a number of Irish athletes competing at the fourth Goodwill Games which start tomorrow in New York.
There's more than $5 million in prize money across the full range of sports, where about 1,500 athletes from 60 countries compete in invitation "finals-only" events. Susan Smith is first into action over the 400 metres hurdles tomorrow evening, while O'Sullivan runs over the mile on Monday.
Mark Carroll is in the 5,000 metres on Wednesday in only his second race at the distance this season following his 13:20.84 victory in Cork last month - the fastest run on Irish soil.
Round Two of the national track and field league takes place tomorrow in Tullamore and Santry. It's the last chance for clubs to qualify for the final, which will be staged by Tullamore Harriers on August 9th.
