Hendricken out

ATHLETICS: Injury looks set to rule Geraldine Hendricken out of the National Championships in Santry, thus ending tomorrow's anticipated meeting with Sonia O'Sullivan over 800 metres, writes Ian O'Riordan

A calf muscle strain, which first came on after Hendricken's victory in the Cork City Sports last Saturday, grew significantly more serious at training on Thursday night and yesterday the Carlow athlete was forced to accept the injury would now require a period of rest and treatment.

"Of course it's disappointing for this to happen right now," she said. "Unless there is dramatic improvement in the next 24 hours I won't be running in Santry, which is hugely depressing.

"I was going so well in training and looking forward to a good championships, but it's more important now that I get this injury right before the European Championships next month."

It means O'Sullivan is now almost certain to have it all her own way in tomorrow's 800 metres, which is being run as a straight final. She is also considering a doubling up in the 1,500 metres, which starts 90 minutes later, though she won't make a decision on that until after the first race.

Today's schedule includes a number of finals, including the men's 10,000 metres where Seamus Power is strong favourite, and the men's javelin, where Terry McHugh will attempt an unprecedented 19th national title.

Maurice Greene showed he is back to top form at the IAAF Golden League meeting in Rome last night as he ran the fastest 100 metres time in the world this year. He had a superb 9.89-second victory ahead of Tim Montgomery, who clocked 9.91seconds.

In the 5,000 metres, there was a shock defeat for Gabriela Szabo, who was forced into third place by Edith Masai - winner by 0.69 seconds in 14:53.77 and Berhane Adere.