Pace too quick for Carroll

Mark Carroll has failed in his bid to reach the 5,000 metres final after his heat at the World Championships in Edmonton.

Carroll, competing in his fourth World Championships, could only finish tenth in the first heat. With the first five qualifying automatically, Carroll had to rely on being one of five fastest losers but narrowly missed out on a berth in Friday’s final.

Racing in the stronger of the two heats, in a field containing the Olympic gold and silver medalists, Carroll was outraced. In a brave effort, the Cork athlete started aggressively and alongside Norway’s Marius Bakken opened a sizeable gap early in the race.

But the chasing pack, led ably by Sydney silver medalist Ali Saidi-Sief, reeled the duo in and overhauled Carroll with six of the 12 ½ lap race remaining. Carroll tried to live with the pace being set by the leaders but with athletes such as Olympic champion Million Wolde in the field and the temperature in the 20s, the 29-year-old was visibly struggling.

On the penultimate lap, Carroll dropped off the back of the leading group and finished in a time of 13:37.37, nearly nine seconds behind winner Saidi-Sief. Carroll’s time was just over a second off the pace to qualify as one of the fastest losers, four of the five coming from his heat.