Healion best of Irish riders

Sports Digest

CYCLING: Irish rider Paul Healion finished a fine 13th on yesterday's fourth stage of the Tour of Britain, sprinting in to the fore of the main bunch in Nottingham, reports Shane Stokes.

Victory went to Russian road race champion Serguei Ivanov, who proved quicker than breakaway companions Evan Oliphant (Scotland), Kazuo Inoue (Bridgestone Anchor) and Paul Manning (Recycling.co.uk/Litespeed) after the four had been clear for all bar five kilometres of the 184.2-kilometre stage.

Healion (Team DFL) came home in the main bunch just over 10 minutes later. Compatriots Eugene Moriarty (Team Ireland) and Ciarán Power (Navigators Insurance) were 21st and 31st respectively, with the five other Irish riders in the race finishing farther back.

Power remains best placed of them overall, four minutes and 45 seconds behind race leader Nick Nuyens (QuickStep). Power is in 25th place, with McCann in 49th.

The race continues today with a four-kilometre time trial in Birmingham.

EQUESTRIAN: Ireland finished an encouraging joint-third in the Spanish Nations Cup in Gijon yesterday, but the result has no bearing on the Super League rankings as Gijon is not part of the Super League, reports Grania Willis.

Trevor Coyle and Overtime gave Ireland the perfect start with a double clear, but the magic zero eluded his three team-mates.

A clear from the last man in, Conor Swail, would have forced a jump-off with the Belgians, but two down for Poncho left Ireland on 24 at the finish. That gave them a share of third with the Dutch, two fences adrift of the winning Belgians on 16. Spain took second place on 20.

"I'm very pleased", chef d'equipe James Kernan said. "Trevor's horse jumped great. It's a real horse for the future and Conor's horse is the same. They're two really good possibilities for the Super League next year, if we stay in."

ATHLETICS: Russia's Tatyana Lebedeva will be jumping for $1 million in the season's final Golden League meeting in Berlin tomorrow.

The triple jumper missed out on gold at the World Championships in Helsinki last month because of an Achilles injury but can complete a Golden League clean sweep in the Olympic Stadium after victories in all five previous meetings.

If she manages it she would become only the second athlete, after Maria Mutola in the 800 metres in 2003, to scoop the entire pot.

To claim the money, Lebedeva, a 29-year-old mother from Volgograd who won World Championships in 2001 and 2003, will have to beat all three medallists from Helsinki.

Newly-crowned world champion Trecia Smith of Jamaica, silver medallist Yargelis Savigne of Cuba and Russian team-mate Anna Pyatykh, who won bronze, will all be eager to prove the worth of their new medals before a crowd of up to 60,000.

Other highlights should include the women's 100 metres, where France's Christine Arron will be looking to avenge her costly defeat in Zurich against a field that includes new world champion Lauryn Williams of the US and Chandra Sturrup of the Bahamas.

SOCCER: Middlesbrough midfielder Stewart Downing will be out for at least three months after undergoing knee surgery, the club said yesterday.

Downing had an operation on Thursday to repair cartilage in his right knee, which was damaged in Sunday's 3-0 home defeat by Charlton Athletic.