McKiernan to miss Olympics

ATHLETICS: With a small tinge of regret Catherina McKiernan has cut short her quest for a third Olympic experience, abandoning her only chance of qualifying for the 10,000 metres in Athens.

It was hoped this Sunday's Grand Prix meeting in Gateshead would provide her with the qualifying time, but instead McKiernan feels her current level of fitness still doesn't translate to the 31 minutes 45 seconds needed for Athens.

A final assessment on her fitness was made at the weekend and Yesterday McKiernan confirmed she just wasn't producing the sort of times in track training that would suggest Gateshead would be a worthwhile trip. And while the decision was disappointing, it wasn't going to leave her with any major regret.

"The times in training just weren't adding up to what I needed," she explained. "But I wanted to give myself as much time as possible too, and said I'd make the final decision the week before. And I feel now there is no point in travelling when I'm not 100 per cent sure that I'm in the shape I should be to get under the qualifying time."

Realistically McKiernan would also have needed at least a couple of warm-up races before chasing the 31:45 qualifying time. But the fact is she hasn't had a track race of any sort in eight years, when she ran the 10,000 metres at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, eventually finishing in 11th place.

She also ran the 3,000 metres at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, and then missed Sydney four years ago through injury.

Two weeks ago she won the women's mini marathon over the same distance on the roads in 33:46. And while she does have a track best of 31:08.41, from 1995, it had become increasingly evident in recent weeks that she just wasn't hitting the sort of splits on the track that put the Athens qualifying time within her reach.

Her only other option for the Olympics after the 10,000 metres would have been the marathon, where she still holds the Irish record, but the extreme heat expected in Athens, coupled with the undisputed tough course, was enough to steer her clear of that event several months back.

This decision though doesn't mean McKiernan, a four-time silver medallist in the world cross country, will hang up the running shoes just yet. At 34 she intends on competing for another couple of years at least, and will almost certainly make one more attempt at the marathon distance where she ultimately proved she could mix it with the very best in the world.

Meanwhile, Saturday week, July 3rd, remains the deadline set by the Olympic Council of Ireland for Olympic qualification and several more athletes are still hoping to book their place in Athens before then.

Gareth Turnbull hopes to hit the 3:36.20 over 1,500 metres and has races lined up in Zagreb (June 29th) and San Sebastian (July 2nd). The Cork City Sports on July 3rd will also see the likes of Gary Ryan and Ciara Sheehy (200 metres), Rob Daly and Karen Shinkins (400 metres) and possibly Peter Coghlan (110 metre hurdles) secure late qualification marks.

And still planning a run in Gateshead this Sunday is Sonia O'Sullivan, who drops to the 1,500 metres as part of her build-up to the 5,000 metres in Athens.

Mark Carroll and Cathal Lombard will also run over 3,000 metres in Gateshead, before being joined by Alistair Cragg in the 5,000 metres at the Golden League meeting in Rome on July 2nd.

All three already have qualifying times for Athens.