Numbers high for national records

The fact that Sonia O'Sullivan was the only individual Irish athlete to set a national record in the Sydney Games was well highlighted in the flood of post-Olympic analysis. On the whole, however, the last 12 months produced a significant number of new national standards.

Between men and women, a total of 22 new Irish records were either established or subsequently bettered in the period since last January. That number extends to 35 when indoor marks are included. There were also nine new junior records set outdoors, as well as two new indoor marks.

O'Sullivan capped a memorable Olympics by improving both her own 5,000 metre record, and the 10,000 metre record of Catherina McKiernan. Her silver medal run of 14 minutes, 41.02 seconds eclipsed her 1995 mark by just 0.38 of a second, and she then knocked more than 15 seconds off McKiernan's 31:08.41 when finishing sixth in the 10,000 final in 30:53.37.

Sydney did produce two new national relay records, with the men's 4x100 metre squad clocking 39.26 (improving on the 39.46 set in Athens three years ago) and the women's 4x400 metre squad clocking 3:32.24 (improving on the 3:32.56 set by the national team back in 1987).

Gillian O'Sullivan claimed more records than anyone, improving all four walk distances of 3,000m, 5,000m, 10km and 20km in the last year. She twice improved the 20km record, first by clocking 1:33.08 in February and then lowering it to 1:31.31 in June. She also improved the indoor 3,000 mark on three occasions.

The most enduring record to fall this year was John Treacy's 10,000 metre mark of 27:48.70 - set way back in 1980. Last May in Stanford, in what was his track debut at the distance, Mark Carroll clocked 27:46.82.

Carroll is one of the few Irish names to appear anywhere close to the top of the IAAF end-of-year world lists. His indoor mile time of 3:54.98 was the second fastest in the world and his outdoor time of 3:50.62, clocked in Oslo, made him the 11th fastest man. Sinead Delahunty had the eighth fastest indoor mile time of 4:30.41 although her outdoor 1,500 metre time of 4:05.28 would only rank her 43rd.

The consistency of O'Sullivan is again underlined by her second place over 3,000 metres (8:27.58), fourth place over 5,000 metres (14:41.02) and seventh place over 10,000 metres (30:53.37).

Other athletes to get top 50 rankings outdoors are James Nolan (21st over 1000 metres with 2:19.11), Gareth Turnbull (35th over the mile with 3:57.89), Breda Dennehy Willis (45th over 5,000 metres with 15:12.83) and Susan Smith Walsh (16th over the 400 metre hurdles with 55.42).