CATHERINA McKIERNAN may miss the world 10,000 metres championship at Athens in August if her form does not justify her journey to Greece.
"It's too early as yet, to predict how Catherina will be running in August or if it will be worth her time taking part in the championships," said a spokesman for the McKiernan camp.
"At the moment, we prefer to say that it's in our provisional programme and that it will be some time yet before we commit ourselves, one way or another."
The effect of that indecision at a stage of the season when the vast majority of genuine title contenders have formulated their programmes, will be to heighten speculation that McKiernan is likely to be marked absent from the championships for a second consecutive occasion.
At Gothenburg two years ago, she was forced to pull out of the Irish squad through injury after topping the world 10,000 metres ratings earlier in the season.
In a sense, that said it all about her recurring failure to convert a marvellous reputation in cross country running into a corresponding level of performance on the track.
Nor has her luck changed significantly, in the interim. A foot injury, sustained last autumn, kept her out of much of the cross country season and in attempting to cram her preparations for the world cross country championship into just six weeks, she risked fatigue.
Tomorrow, she will be the big attraction in the women's mini marathon in Dublin.
At some point she hopes to run a 10,000 metres race on the Grand Prix circuit but rather like her world championship entry, that, too, is fringed by uncertainty.
