Hession sets Irish record in 200 metres

ATHLETICS: Paul Hession continued his great sprinting form this summer when he smashed the Irish 200 metres record at the British Grand Prix meeting in Sheffield yesterday, writes Ian O'Riordan.

The 24 year-old Galway athlete clocked 20.44 seconds which knocked a full 10th of a second off the eight-year-old mark of 20.54 by Paul Brizzel from Ballymena. He availed of the good conditions and top class opposition to claim his third Irish record of the summer season, having previously twice lowered the 100 metres mark to 10.28 and 10.18 seconds.

Hession finished fourth in yesterday's top-class field with victory going to the class American, Wallace Speearmon, in 20.08, the same time as the runner-up, Usain Bolt of Jamica. Chris Williams of Jamaica was fourth in 20.39 with Hession relegating top British athlete, Marloln Devonish, to fifth place.

Hession's time, as was his 100-metre clocking, is inside the A standard for the forthcoming World Championships in Osaka as well as for the Olympic Games in Beijing next year.

There was also an excellent performance from Joanne Cuddihy from Kilkenny in the women's 400 metres where she finished third, defeating one of the top Americans, Monique Henderson. Cuddihy finished in a time of 51.56, her fastest of the year. The race was won by Nicola Sanders, Britain's European indoor champion, in 51.01 with Monique Hennean of the USA second in 51.56.

There were other excellent Irish performances with Mary Cullen knocking chunks off her previous best when finishing third in the 3,000 metres in a time of 8:48.17.

This was an excellent effort by Cullen but Marie McCambridge did not figure and finished eighth.

Fionnuala Britton from Wicklow also had a lifetime best in the 3,000 metres steeplechase, finishing fifth in 9:47.58 with victory going to Korine Hinds of Jamaica in 9:34.83.

HOCKEY:While the Irish girls' under-18 team finished a highly creditable fourth at the European Youth Championships in Edinburgh on Saturday, the boys' fifth defeat in as many games resulted in their relegation to the B division (the European Trophy) of the 2009 event, writes Mary Hannigan.

The girls fell behind to England, who needed a win to clinch gold, in the fifth minute but didn't concede again until three minutes from time when Charlotte Craddock scored her second to seal a 2-0 win.

Neil Hamilton and Chris Gregg twice levelled for the boys against Scotland on Saturday but Fraser Hirst's penalty corner strike three minutes from time gave Scotland a 3-2 win.

European Youth Championships (at Edinburgh) - Girls - Pool C: Ireland 0, England 2. Final rankings: 1 England, 2 Holland, 3 Germany, 4 Ireland, 5 Belgium, 6 Lithuania, 7 Spain (relegated to 2009 European Trophy), 8 Scotland (relegated to 2009 European Trophy). Boys - Pool C: Ireland 2, Scotland 3. Final rankings: 1 Germany, 2 Holland, 3 Belgium, 4 England, 5 Scotland, 6 Russia, 7 France (relegated to 2009 European Trophy), 8 Ireland (relegated to 2009 European Trophy).