Coghlan starts Ghent build-up

In targeting the European Indoor Championships in Ghent at the end of month, Peter Coghlan has lined up a series of indoor races in the coming weeks, starting with the Millrose Games in New York on Friday night.

This will be the first significant outing for Coghlan since his ground-breaking improvement over the 110 metre hurdles last summer, but with the bulk of his winter training in Atlanta now completed, he believes a focused indoor season is the logical step at this stage.

"With the Olympics being so late, I think you can afford to concentrate on a little more on indoors this year," he says. "You can take a break afterwards and then get back into the build-up for the summer, but more important for me is the racing. To be honest, the training part for me is just not fun. I have to race or I'd lose the plot altogether."

In lowering the Irish record to 13.30 seconds last summer (and also missing the World Championship final by just one place), Coghlan ended up ranked eight fastest European, a list that included Britain's gold medallist in Seville, Colin Jackson. But Jackson won't be in Ghent, giving the Dubliner that bit more incentive. Still, like any athlete, his true ambitions lie in Sydney later this year.

"The thing about Ghent is that no one will be head and shoulders above anybody else," he adds. "Jackson won't be there, so there's nobody really to fear. I certainly don't what to get carried away, but I'm looking forward to it."

Last week he pulled out the racing spikes for the first time this winter, winning a low-key 55 metre hurdles in Boston in 7.28 seconds and getting the first indication of how things are progressing. "I was happy with that because it was certainly faster than what I started out with last year. I know now I can improve a lot more as the season goes on."

After Millrose, where he runs the 60 metre hurdles, Coghlan returns to Europe for a fortnight of racing that includes Athens on the 9th, a chance to test the track in Ghent on the 11th, then on to Leivin and finally Birmingham the week before the Europeans.

The scope of his racing itinerary has also been greatly expanded since he signed up with leading international agent Ray Flynn last October. In coaching terms, he continues to work under the guidance of Loren Seagrave and his assistant Paul Doyle in Atlanta, with the real focus remaining on the warm outdoor tracks of the summer season.

In the meantime, with Mark Carroll aiming for the 3,000 metres and James Nolan the 1500 metres, it's appearing increasingly likely that the Irish challenge in Ghent will be the strongest ever for a European indoor event.