Sports digest

A round-up of today's other stories in brief

Cavendish wins world road race title

CYCLING:Capping off a year when he won the Tour de France green jersey for the first time and brought his stage win tally there to a remarkable 20 triumphs, Mark Cavendish yesterday sprinted to victory in cycling's world road race championships in Copenhagen, writes Shane Stokes.

After impressive support from his team, the 26-year-old launched at just the right time to beat Matt Goss (Australia) and Andre Greipel (Germany), becoming the first British road race champion since Tom Simpson in 1965.

National road race champion Matt Brammeier was best of the Irish squad, finishing 36th in the big sprint to the line. He and Nicolas Roche, who placed 51st, came home in the same group as Cavendish, while Dan Martin finished in 90th place.

On Saturday Siobhan Horgan failed to finish the women’s road race after colliding with another competitor. Jack Wilson and Ryan Mullen finished 29th and 94th respectivelyin the junior event.

Makau shatters world men's marathon record

ATHLETICS: Kenyan Patrick Makau shattered the world men's marathon record by 21 seconds yesterday when he clocked two hours three minutes 38 seconds over the fast, flat Berlin course on a warm, sunny morning.

Makau ran alone for the final 12km to break the previous mark of 2:03:59 set by Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie on the same course three years ago. It was the fifth time the mens world record has fallen on the 42.195-km race through the heart of the German capital.

The 26-old-Kenyan won the Berlin race last year and finished third in London this year after falling 22km into the race.

Paula Radcliffe admitted she had to swallow her pride and settle for achieving the Olympic qualifying time by finishing third in the women’s race.

Kenya’s Florence Kiplagat won in 2hrs 19mins 44secs, with Germany’s Irina Mikitenko second in 2:22.18. Radcliffe was next home in third in 2:23.46.

Nyad abandons brave attempt

SWIMMING: US long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad decided yesterday to abandon her third attempt to swim from Cuba to Florida after being stung overnight in the face and eyes by jellyfish, her team said.

Nyad, 62, had swum more than 124 km of the 166 km stretch when she decided to end the effort later yesterday. As of midday, the endurance athlete had made more than 114,000 swimming strokes since starting Friday evening, according to her websites tally.

“After more than 40 hours of swimming and two Portuguese Man-of-War stings, Diana Nyad decided to end her swim today . . . ,” a posting on Twitter and her website said.

Nyad was treated by doctors on a specially equipped boat accompanying her after she was stung on Saturday night.

The swim was the second time in two months Nyad had attempted the crossing. In August, she swam for 29 hours and about 50 miles (80 km) before quitting.)

Dockrell's dream week ends on high

CRICKET: Ireland spinner George Dockrell completed a jet-setting week in style yesterday by playing his part in Somerset's five-wicket victory over the Kolkata Knight Riders in their opening Champions League Group B game in Hyderabad, India, writes Emmet Riordan.

The 19-year-old from Rathgar watched in the bar at Clontarf Cricket Club as the English county gained qualification with a victory over the same opposition last Tuesday, just minutes after being awarded man of the match as Ireland completed a 2-0 victory over Canada in their World Cup qualification games.

Dockrell only arrived in India on Saturday morning and joined fellow left-arm spinners Murali Karthik, Roelof van der Merwe and Arul Suppiah in the starting XI.

Bowling the tough middle overs, with Jacques Kallis and Yusuf Pathan at the crease, he gave away 32 runs from his four overs. Suppiah was not so lucky, with his single over going for 30.

Behan claims historic bronze medal

GYMNASTICS: Kieran Behan landed an historic bronze medal on Saturday for Ireland in the Floor Final at the FIG Salamunov Memorial, World Series Cup in Maribor, Slovenia.

The Salamunov Memorial Cup is a FIG-approved World Series event and it is the first time Ireland have medalled at such an event in men’s artistic gymnastics.

The 22-year-old qualified in third place and maintained his performance in the final to ease his way on to the medal podium.

“I cant believe it, I am over the moon. It feels fantastic, like a dream,” Kieran said.

“I was so nervous, more than I have ever been, but I just thought . . . . . show off my routine and do my best. Then I couldn’t believe it when I finished, I looked up and saw third.”

This result comes at the perfect time, just ahead of the 2011 World Championships in Tokyo and will boost Behan’s current standings in the World ranking system.

Slick Leinster too strong for Munster

RUGBY:There was a worrying gulf in standards between the crowned champions Leinster and a Munster collection that only made an impact when the game was long decided n the Under-19 Interprovincial Championship at Donnybrook on Saturday. Leinster won 42-20.

Munster out-half Tom Kiersey was always willing to test the gain line, but too many of his forwards were outgunned in the tight skirmishes. Leinster registered six tries, two from their number eight Conor Guihan, as they combined to blistering effect at times.

Kiersey tried to engineer a comeback via his try and solid kicking. Munster got a second try from flanker Cronan Gleeson.

SCORERS

Leinster 42 (C Guihan 2 tries; S Crosbie try, 3 cons; J Fitzpatrick, T Farrell, J van der Flier try each; T Daly 2 pens); Munster 20 (T Kiersey try, 2 pens, con; C Gleeson).