There will be no last-minute reprieves on offer for Irish athletes before the deadline for entries expires today for the World track and field championships in Seville.
That will disappoint several people, among them Ciara Sheehy, the talented Dublin 200 metres runner who delivered the most convincing evidence yet of a fine career in the making in finishing third in the European under-23 championships at Riga on Saturday.
A time of 23.49 seconds not only broke the national record which Michelle Carroll-Walsh set at Sittard 21 years ago but gave her a B qualifying standard for the Seville championships.
The feeling among the Irish selectors, however, is that at this stage of her career Sheehy has as much to lose as to gain by going in against the best sprinters in the world and as such it would be unwise to amend the original selection.
More disappointed, one suspects, will be the Wexford long jumper Ciaran McDonagh who, after a splendid winning performance in the national championships at Santry last month, must have felt within reach of his first appearance in a major championship.
A winning jump of 7.95 metres at Tallinn a week last Sunday was further cause for optimism but sadly, from his viewpoint, it wasn't enough to merit his promotion to the team. That may have been down in part to earlier doubts about his fitness but in spite of being troubled for much of the year with a hamstring problem, McDonagh insists he was fit to compete in Seville if selected.
Also unlucky to miss out is Terry McHugh, the national team captain who - after a sub-standard start to his season - got to within 13 centimetres of the B qualifying mark of 77.50 metres in a competition in Switzerland last Sunday.
As yet, Thomas Coman has not confirmed his recovery from a recent injury and the net effect of that omission is that Ireland will not now be represented in the 4 x 400 relay event, a major disappointment for athletes like Paul McKee and Carl Oppermann.
Javier Sotomayor, the celebrated Cuban high jumper, is likely to be confirmed today as a contender for a third world title success, in spite of testing positive for cocaine during the recent Pan American Games.
In a case which will revive at least some memories of the recent Michelle de Bruin saga, the Cuban sports medicine director Mario Granda claims there was manipulation in the testing of the athlete's urine samples.
The difference in this instance, however, is that while de Bruin was shamelessly abandoned by friends, even in the highest places, the Cuban legend still appears to enjoy the support of the vast majority of his countrymen.
