ATHLETICS: Three stadium records in the sprint events saved an otherwise uneventful National Indoor Championships in Nenagh yesterday. Considering the arctic-like conditions inside the arena it was surprising there were any records.
Ailis McSweeney was perhaps most impressive in the 60-metre final, setting a stadium record of 7.40 seconds while narrowly missing Michele Carroll's 13-year-old record of 7.38.
The 20-year-old UCC law graduate also beat a top quality field when winning her first senior title, beating Emily Maher into second and five-time champion Ciara Sheehy into third. While victory secured Sweeney's selection for next month's European Indoors in Madrid, Maher's time of 7.42 was .02 outside the standard. She will have another attempt at the British Championships in Sheffield next weekend.
In the men's sprint equivalent, Jer O'Donoghue had another stadium record run to win his second title over 60 metres in a personal best of 6.76 - which left him .01 outside the standard for Madrid. He is now in a race against time if he is to qualify.
The third stadium record went to Derval O'Rourke in the 60 metre hurdles, who won in 8.27 seconds for what was a seventh title in a row. Gary Ryan claimed his sixth title over 200 metres in 21.89, while Sheehy came back to take her seventh successive crown in the women's event.
David McCarthy also copper-fastened his Madrid selection with his fourth successive crown over 400 metres, clocking 48.39.
In Ghent, Belgium, Colin Costello made another exciting breakthrough to lower his own national junior 1,500 metre record with a time of 3:46.17. And James Nolan is still intent on securing the 1,500 metre qualifying time of 3:43.0 for Madrid despite finishing only sixth in the Wanamaker Mile on Friday in 4:06.50 - a long ways off Kenyan winner Bernard Lagat's 3:52.87.
