O'Lionaird, Ryan and Cragg into finals

Athletics:Ciaran O'Lionaird brought the curtain down on a memorable day in Daegu by becoming Ireland's second ever 1,500-metre World Championship finalist. After seeing teammates Deirdre Ryan and Alistair Cragg come through their heats earlier in the day, O'Lionaird made it three out of three for the Irish team.

O’Lionaird had the benefit of running in the second of today’s semi-finals and, after the opening race plodded around in a sluggish time, knew a place in the top seven would almost certainly guarantee a place in Sunday’s decider as a fastest loser.

And in an honest run race, the Florida-based 23-year-old tucked in behind the leaders until the final lap whereupon he moved into third position. He was overhauled just before the line, missing out on an automatic place in the final, but by finishing sixth in a time of 3:36.96 was safe in the knowledge his passage was secured.

The Leevale runner will become the first Irish athlete to contest a 1,500m final since Niall Bruton way back in 1995.

After knocking on the door consistently over the years without ever really making the major breakthrough, Ryan not only qualified for the high jump final but also secured her place at next year’s Olympic Games.

And Cragg signalled his return to form as he came through a brutally tough examination in the 5,000 metres to make it through to Sunday’s final.

Ryan bettered the 1.93m Irish record she set earlier this summer, raising the bar to 1.95m. The 29-year-old from Dundrum breezed through the early rounds, needing just one attempt to reach the 1.92m mark where she struggled but cleared on her third attempt.

And having earned a shot at the final – nothing less than 1.95m would have seen her through – Ryan duly made it at her second attempt to earn a place among the world’s elite.

As the mercury crept up beyond 37 degrees, defending champion Blanka Vlasic led a raft a women into tomorrow’s final. Vlasic has been the dominant performer in high jump over the last three years, taking the Berlin 2009 World, Doha 2010 World indoor and Barcelona 2010 European titles.

However, Russia's Anna Chicherova celebrated her 29th birthday by clearing 2.07m at the Russian championships in July to build up the contest here into something of a classic.

Denting Vlasic's hopes of defending her crown is a partially torn muscle in her left leg which had originally looked to sideline the Croatian from Daegu. "I could not bear watching the competition on television," she said last week. "I'd feel as if someone had a party, but did not invite me."

Today the rangy Croat jumped 1.95m to qualify but said she was still troubled by her injury.

"It was a long competition, a lot of girls. As always in qualifications, this is something you need to do and when you're finished with it, you are happy," she said. "I did a good competition, no fouls. I still suffer from my injury and I am worried about how it will be in the final. I will jump with the pain tomorrow."

Cragg, meanwhile, looked back to his confident best as he finished fifth in a physical heat to claim his place in Sunday’s decider. Having taken up the pace in the opening laps, Cragg stayed in contention when there was an injection of speed with 1,000m remaining.

At the bell there was a serious burn up and Cragg went with the pace and down the home straight he picked off athletes moving to fifth place.

Bernard Lagat of America was the fastest of the qualifiers. At 36, Kenya-born Lagat is the elder statesman in the field but his legs looked full of running as he recorded the quickest time of the morning heats in 13:33.90.

Lagat, who won gold in the 1,500 and 5,000 at the 2007 world championships in Osaka and has been a force in distance running for a decade, shaved off the beard he had in the lead-up to Daegu and said he meant business.

"Now I'm serious," he said, having received a pep talk from his son Miika before his heat. "He asked me how I felt and I said, 'like a million bucks.'

He told me: 'Then go out and run like a million bucks.'"

Berlin champion and world record holder Kenenisa Bekele, who returned from a two-year injury lay-off only to limp out of the 10,000m on Sunday, decided not to run and will instead focus on his preparations for the London Olympics.