Mark Carroll is confident that he can comfortably achieve a World Championship qualifying time when he competes over 5,000 metres at the Rome Grand Prix this evening, the first of the seven IAAF Golden League meetings, writes Ian O'Riordan. The Cork athlete is still seeking his place on the Irish team for Edmonton, and this is certainly the race to do it.
The field is headed by Olympic champion Million Wolde of Ethiopia and will actually serve as the trial for the Ethiopian team. Recent Kenyan champion Richard Limo and Europe's top runner Mohammed Mourhit of Belgium are also in the line-up.
Carroll is targeting a time well below the A-standard of 13 minutes 25 seconds, and having delayed his appearance in Europe this season, he feels his preparations have been even better than expected.
With 37 Olympic medallists from last years Sydney Games among the start lists - including Marion Jones and Maurice Greene - Rome is set to provide the first big test for the contenders at the World Championships in August.
Other Irish interest will be in Sinad Delahunty in the 1,500 metres and Una English in the 3,000 metres, where the field includes Gabriela Szabo of Romania.
Meanwhile, the men's 800 metres is gearing up to be one of the top races in this evening's Dublin International meeting in Santry. National champion James Nolan, national record holder David Matthews and the in-form Daniel Caulfield lead the hopes of an Irish win.
Hockey: Pembroke Wanderers, the all-Ireland champions, will be without Ireland striker Justin Sherriff for the first half of next season. The Leinster Player of the Year (and leading marksman) is taking time out to visit Australia for three months but he plans to return to action after Christmas, hoping that Pembroke will still be in the running for the season's major honours.
To support the objectives of the Year of the Youth, the FIH is sponsoring a coaching course in Dublin, at Serpentine Avenue from tomorrow to Wednesday. It will be conducted by Bert Bunnik, former Dutch national assistant coach who has also been involved with the European champions Bloemendaal. For further information, contact Jantien Findlater (2955554).
