Carroll at his best

Mark Carroll earned himself $12,000 for victory in the New Balance Games mile at New York's Armory track on Saturday, and his time of three minutes 54.98 seconds was also the fastest in the world this year.

By improving the meeting record of 3:57.89, Carroll picked up a $10,000 bonus in addition to the first place prize of $2,000. He was over three seconds clear of the second placed Richie Boulet of the US (3:57.0), with Paul McMullen also of the US in third (3:57.88).

There was a similar bonus for Regina Jacobs in the women's mile, who lowered the meeting record to 4:21.79 - the seventh fastest of all time and second fastest American mile ever. Jacobs was too strong for Ireland's Sinead Delahunty, who took second in 4:30.41.

Meanwhile, at the Nenagh Indoor Games yesterday, Ciara Sheehy opened her indoor season with an impressive double over the 60 and 200 metres. Her time of 7.51 in the 60 metres was just .02 outside the Irish record, and her 24.33 over 200 metres was a stadium record. There was also a useful season opener for Karen Shinkins in the 400 metres with her winning time of 54.16 seconds.

The sprints also provided the main highlights for the men, with Donal McCarthy taking the 60 metres in 6.89 and Tom Comyns the 200 metres in 21.97. Paul Opperman also took a quality 400 metres in 49.12 while Gareth Turnbull was best of the distance events when winning the 3,000 metres in 8:08.5.