A round-up of other sports news in brief
Cullen breaks O'Sullivan's record
ATHLETICS: Athletics Ireland may have some financial issues at the moment but there were several strong performances on the track this weekend. Mary Cullen got the rare honour of breaking one of Sonia O'Sullivan's Irish records when she lowered the indoor 3,000 metres mark to 8:43.74 to win the Valentine's Invitational at Boston University – the third fastest time in the world this year.
It improved the 8:44.37 that O'Sullivan ran in Lisbon in 1997, and underlines Cullen's excellent form ahead of next month's European Indoor championships in Turin – as the previous weekend the Sligo runner came within a second of breaking the indoor 5,000 metres.
At the same meeting, Waterford's David McCarthy joined Ireland's elite club of sub-four minute milers when he ran a superb 3:57.75 to win the college mile. Just out-dipping his Providence College team mate, Hayden McLaren, McCarthy is now on course for a top finish at the American NCAA championships.
Martin Fagan, running as a guest, won the 3,000 metres in 7:57.85.
Closer to home, Deirdre Byrne won the British Indoor 3,000 metres title in Sheffield, running as a guest, in a time of 9:04.78, while Zoe Brown improved her own Irish pole vault record 4.05 metres to place third. Ailis McSweeney also finished third in the 60 metres in 7.43, with both athletes edging closer to the qualifying standard for Turin (4.20 metres and 7.40 respectively).
David Gillick, meanwhile, has been added to the Irish team for Turin in the 400 metres after clicking the fastest time in the world this year when winning at the Dusseldorf International meeting in a superb 46.18 seconds on Friday night.
England make a positive start
CRICKET: England captain Andrew Strauss put the disastrous first test behind him as he struck 169 to lead England to an impressive 301 for three at stumps on the first day of the third test yesterday.
Strauss and fellow opener Alastair Cook put on 123 for the first wicket before Cook went caught by Devon Smith off Chris Gayles off-spin for 52. Then Owais Shah struck a smart 57 off 100 balls before he was run out looking for a quick single.
Strauss looked well set to continue his innings into the second day but a tired attempted pull shot near the close resulted in a simple caught and bowled for Fidel Edwards.
The game at the Antigua Recreation Ground had been hastily arranged following the abandonment of the second test on Friday after just ten balls, when the field was deemed unfit.
Antigua: England 301 for 3 (A J Strauss 169, O A Shah 57, A N Cook 52) v West Indies.
UCD justify seeding in Dublin Head
ROWING: UCD's senior eight, stroked by Anthony English, justified their seeding on Saturday to win the Dublin Head of the River for the second year in succession , writes Liam Gorman.
While conditions were excellent – aided by the ESB, which lowered the water level on the river — there was a slight headwind and the time was slower than in recent years.
There was a dramatic win for UCD in the intermediate eight. The students were late arriving on the start and were given a 10-second penalty, but they still edged the category from Neptune – by 0.16 of a second.
Garda's win in the men's senior four came in a time far quicker than a number of the eights, while UCD edged out Commercial in the women's senior eight. This was the biggest Dublin head of the river, with 33 crews completing the course.
Mauresmo claims title
TENNIS: Amelie Mauresmo confirmed her return to form when she beat Russian third seed Elena Dementieva 7-6 2-6 6-4 to clinch her third Paris Open title yesterday.
The Frenchwoman, who dropped to 24th in the WTA rankings after reaching top spot in 2004, ended a two hour-38-minute contest on her second match point.
Eighth seed Mauresmo won the tournament in 2001 and 2006.
Loeb extends world rally lead
MOTOR SPORT: Frenchman Sebastien Loeb won the Norwegian Rally in a Citroen yesterday, extending his world championship lead with his second victory in two races this season.
Loeb finished in a time of three hours, 28 seconds 15.9 seconds, 9.8 quicker than Finn Mikko Hirvonen of Ford whose team mate and compatriot Jari-Matti Latvala came third.
The win kept Loeb, seeking his sixth successive world title, on top of the standings with a perfect 20 points from two races.
The Frenchman, who also won the season-opening Rally Ireland, led on the snowy roads all weekend.
Going into the 23rd and closing Budor stage Hirvonen trailed Loeb by just 7.7 seconds but the Frenchman produced his usuak strong finish to beat his rival by 2.1 seconds.
“This victory was very important for me, Loeb said. Finally weve done it. Its been very difficult mentally to keep pushing to the end and know that you could lose everything at the last corner of the last stage. Its a lot more exciting when you win with a battle like this. Mikko has done a really great rally and I had to push on the limit from the first to the last stage, added Loeb, who took his 49th world championship win but only his second on snow after the 2004 Swedish Rally.
Hirvonen, winner of the Norwegian Rally in 2007, climbed to second place in the standings, six points behind Loeb.
Im sad that we came second, but Im glad we finished, said the Finn. “It was a really, really big and close fight. Im glad about my speed today, I managed to push him really hard.
