Sinead Delahunty is among the seven athletes named yesterday in Ireland's squad for the European indoor championships, starting at Ghent a week on Friday.
Delahunty, forced to compete in the slipstream of Sonia O'Sullivan for much of her career, was rewarded for her commitment in returning from the US for the National Indoor Championships, with an exciting win in the 800 metres final. She will now challenge for European honours in her specialist event, the 1,500 metres, a decision which puts her on course for a meeting with some of world's leading middle distance runners.
It provides early compensation for the problems which caused her level of performance to dip to the point where she failed to make the squad for the world championships in Seville last summer. Forced to dig deep to hold off the challenge of Maria Lynch at Nenagh on Sunday, she is now planning to have one more race, possibly in Germany, before heading for Ghent next week. One athlete who believes that she doesn't need any more competition to bring her to a fine racing edge is Karen Shinkins, the talented Newbridge athlete who is currently redefining the standards of national 400 metres running. Shinkins, who set an Irish record of 52.85 seconds in Athens last Wednesday, would appear to have timed her preparations for Ghent with fine precision and as such, is taking a short break from racing before her first major international indoor assignment.
James Nolan, who scored an emphatic 800 metres success over Mark Carroll at the weekend, is moving up to join Gareth Turnbull in a double Irish challenge for the men's 1,500 metres title. In spite of an excellent run in finishing second to Carroll in the Wannamaker mile, many believe that the UCD man is better suited to the two lap event and to that extent, his decision to switch is mildly surprising. Meanwhile, Carroll, as expected, is aiming for the 3,000 metres title in Belgium. Turnbull, by practice and inclination much more adaptable than Nolan, has won over a broad spectrum of events at distances, ranging from 800 to 10,000 metres this season. In a very real way, both he and his admirable coach, John Morrin, are at the centre of a new trend which promises to revolutionise Irish athletics.
For the first time, perhaps, the best of our talent is being mobilised on an island wide basis. And Turnbull's emergence at the core of a new generation of runners, identifies the benefits which accrue from the new order in the sport here. Brendan Reilly, predictably, is rewarded for an imposing performance at Nenagh with a nomination in the high jump and there is also deserved recognition for Ciara Sheehy, the Dublin athlete who has revitalised women's sprinting.
Sadly, the man who is performing something of a similar job in men's competition, Conor McCarthy, goes unrewarded. And in that, there is perhaps, the only criticism attaching to the selection. McCarthy, an accountant by profession, has achieved a remarkable rate of progression from a part-time base, convincing proof if needed, that success is not the exclusive preserve of the professionals.
Gary Ryan was not considered because of an illness which kept him out of the Nenagh programme, and American based Peter Coghlan, a live contender for the hurdles championship, is injured.
