JAMES NOLAN was named EBS Building Society Young Athlete of the Year for the second time in succession at a reception in Dublin yesterday.

The 20 year old UCD student follows in the footsteps of his clubmates Antoine Burke, who also took the title twice, and David Matthews.

It has been quite a year for Nolan who hails from Screggan, near Tullamore. In the World Junior Championships in Sydney he reduced the Irish junior record to one minute 47.55 seconds when qualifying for the final of the 800 metres. However, an injury sustained during qualification curtailed his performance in that final.

But he has since proved that he has made the transition from junior to senior ranks by taking the AAAs indoor title a little over a week ago in Birmingham.

Nolan, who has benefited from the scholarship system in UCD hopes to qualify for the World Indoor Championships in Paris next month and with that in mind, his next race will be in Chent in Belu, or in Germany, next week.

Bernard Allen, Minister for Sport, speaking at the presentation, confirmed that the sport strategy document will be published on February 18th. Allen stressed that the document was pragmatic and not aspirational. He also asked the national sporting federations to delay judgment until the document was published in full and stressed that there was nothing to fear in it for the bodies.

The question of sport in education is also likely to be addressed in the document.