Sonia O'Sullivan, as anticipated, has been named in the Ireland team to compete in the World Cross Country Championships in the Algarve on March 18th and 19th.
It will be her first appearance in the national squad since her 5,000 metres and 10,000 metres double in the European track and field championships at Budapest some 18 months ago.
Earlier in 1998 she won the short and long course titles in the World Cross Country Championships, but, as yet, it is still not clear what her exact plans will be for the Algarve.
That depends to a large extent on her performance in the Australian 10,000 metres championships in Sydney this week and how she is progressing in training on her return to Europe in the first week in March.
O'Sullivan will be joined in the women's team by the first three finishers in yesterday's National Championships, Anne Keenan-Buckley, Rosemary Ryan and Maria McCambridge. Additionally, there are places for Breda Dennehy-Willis, who is currently training in Australia, and the Blarney athlete Valerie Vaughan.
Significantly, however, there is no room for the experienced Kerry woman Maureen Harrington, a former national champion, who just missed out on automatic qualification in yesterday's race at the ALSAA complex near Dublin Airport.
The men's team will be led, as expected, by the experienced Clare athlete Seamus Power, who reclaimed the national title in convincing fashion yesterday.
Peter Matthews, the Dubliner who followed Power home in yesterday's race, gained one of the automatic places and Noel Cullen's return to form is confirmed in his selection as one of three Clonliffe athletes to make the trip.
Cian McLoughlin, a creditable fourth yesterday, is another member of the Santry club to make the cut, as does the Italian-born Paolo Doglio, who qualifies for Ireland because of his ancestry. The men's selection is completed by the talented Belfast runner Dermot Donnelly, who in the absence of the reigning champion John Ferrin, was the highest placed Northern athlete in the National Championships.
Maurice Greene brought his indoor campaign to a blistering climax in Birmingham yesterday when he equalled his own British all-comers' mark at the CGU Indoor Grand Prix. The American clocked 6.47 seconds for a convincing victory in the 60 metres - then immediately set his sights on Sydney.
Greene is determined to win three golds at the Olympics this September.
Teams
Men: S Power (Kilbricken), P Matthews (DSD), N Cullen (Clonliffe), C McLoughlin (Clonliffe), D Donnelly (Annadale), P Doglio (Clonliffe).
Women: A Keenan-Buckley (N Laoise), R Ryan (Bilboa), M McCambridge (DSD), S O'Sullivan (Ballymore/Cobh), B Dennehy-Willis (Mallow), V Vaughan (Blarney).
