ATHLETICS NEWS:FOUR WEEKS before the cut-off date for Olympic qualification and there were mixed fortunes for the Irish athletes still in the hunt for the London A-standard. Laura Reynolds made the most of her last chance to qualify in the 20km walk when posting 1:32:37 at the IAAF Challenge in La Coruna, Spain – almost a minute inside the necessary 1:33:30.
Reynolds had come close twice before, and will now join Olive Loughnane in the same event – and becomes the 18th Irish athlete set for London with an A-standard.
It was just reward for the Leitrim walker, who competes for Mohill AC, and has been coached for the last 10 years by fellow Leitrim athlete Colin Griffin – who last month qualified for the men’s 50km event in London.
No such fortunes for David Gillick in his quest to secure the 400 metres A-standard of 45.30. Gillick finally got his outdoor season under way at the Turin International meeting but trailed in eighth and last in 48.36, and clearly has some major improving to do. Pavel Maslack from the Czech Republic took the win in 45.17 Gillick is scheduled to race again in Moscow this evening.
Also short of the A-standard at the weekend was Paralympics champion Jason Smyth, who clocked 10.34 and 10.39 seconds in two races in Florida – short of the required 10.18.
Ciara Mageean, still targeting the 4:06.00 1,500m A-standard, ran 4:13.30 at the British Milers Club meeting in Waterford, with Cork’s Orla Drumm actually finishing ahead of her there in 4:12.
Some better news for Donegal’s Ruairi Finnegan, who ran 3:46.27 at Watford to qualify for next month’s World Junior Championships in Barcelona: Paul Robinson ran 3:39.92, while Rose-Anne Galligan ran 2:03.49 in the 800m.
At the New York Diamond League meeting, Fionnuala Britton held a 70-metre lead on some of the leading Africans about halfway through the 5,000 metres but ended up sixth in 15:33.04, while Tirunesh Dibaba took the win in 14:50.80.
Bolt unhurt in crash
WORLD and Olympic record-breaking sprinter Usain Bolt emerged unscathed from a car accident in the Jamaican capital yesterday. Bolt, 25, had returned to home on Saturday after beating Jamaican rival Astafa Powell in the 100 metres event at last week's Oslo Diamond League competition. He crashed his BMW coupe after leaving a party in the capital, Kingston, shortly before dawn, police said. His publicist, Carole Beckford said Bolt was not hurt in the accident.
