The Home Challenge

Men

Neil Ryan (100 metres)

Age: 29. Club: Nenagh Olympic. Came late to athletics after playing Gaelic football in his youth; won a county medal with the Eire Og under-16 team. Won his first national title in 1992 with a wind-assisted 10.67 seconds, but lost the following year to Kieran Finn. Missed '94 European Championships and struggled again in '95. An injury-free '96 allowed him run 10.53 to qualify for Atlanta. Although this year Ryan has carded a 10.46, the eventual winner in Athens will break 9.90. Personal ambitions will have to suffice.

Gary Ryan (200 metres)

Age: 25. Club: Nenagh Olympic. Arrived from nowhere to light up a dull Atlanta day last summer with a gutsy performance. Currently holds the Irish record of 20.78, although this season's best is down on that at 21.02, set at Santry in the National Championships. About a second off the pace of the best runners in Athens. However, Ryan still has Irish records in his legs.

Eugene Farrell (400 metres)

Age: 24. Club: Dublin City Harriers Started off a 100 and 200 runner in his home city of Brisbane, Australia, where his parents settled from Dublin. His personal best time of 46.34 was enough to qualify him for Atlanta last year. Entering several sprint races this season at Santry tired Farrell and kept him to fourth place in this event.

David Matthews (800 metres)

Age: 23. Club: UCD Seen as one of our best quality track athletes and, unusually, he is based in Ireland. With a personal best of 1.44.82, Matthews is capable of delivering at a high level. He finally took his coach Noel Carroll's 29-year-old national record three weeks ago at Santry in 1:47.62, suggesting that his season is coming around. With Sebastian Coe's 1:41.73 record being equalled this year by Denmark's Wilson Kipketer, Matthews will need to better his PB to advance to the final.

Niall Bruton (1,500 metres)

Age: 25. Club: Clonliffe Harriers In 1991 he became the youngest Irishman to break a four-minute mile before going on that summer to run a 52-second last lap to win gold in the World Student Games in Sheffield. That promise has already taken him to a European final in Helsinki and World Championship final in Gothenburg. Possibly more comfortable indoors. Despite being three seconds off his PB (3:35.67) this year, he has much to offer.

Shane Healy (1,500 metres)

Age: 27. Club: Dublin City Harriers Burst on to the scene last year at the Olympics, but has since suffered from injury which has frustrated his training. A personal best in 1997 of 3:40.33 is well off the 3:36.58 which he posted over 12 months ago. Along with Niall Bruton, he has been coached by 1983 world champion Eamon Coughlan.

Mark Carroll (5,000 metres)

Age: 26. Club: Leevale. Another one of the highly-talented young runners who proved himself in his early years with a European Junior title in 1991. He also made the final at the World Championships in Gothenburg in 1995. The Cork-born Carroll has suffered over the past two years with stress fractures, but recently they have shown signs of clearing up. He has run close to Frank O'Mara's Irish record with a personal best of 13:13.94. Perhaps nothing this time, but the best years are in front of Carroll, not behind him.

Tom McGuirk (400m hurdles)

Age: 26. Club: Dublin City Harriers Was THE first Irishman to compete in this event in the Olympics since Bob Tisdall won gold in the Los Angeles games in 1932. Brought up in San Francisco, but qualified to run for Ireland through Irish parents (father Paddy played minor county hurling for Dublin in the 1950s). Holds the Irish record of 49.73.

Mark Mandy (High Jump)

Age: 24. Club: Birchfield Born and raised in England, Mandy qualifies for Ireland through grandparent rule. He has taken the Irish record up to 2.25 metres and is a regular in the Irish singlet. Has managed to clear 2.27 in training, but believes that he can jump over 2.30 given the right conditions and form.

Terry McHugh (Javelin)

Age: 33. Club: Dublin City Harriers A prolific winner of national titles over the years; won his 14th recently in Santry with a disappointing throw of 70.80 metres. McHugh has been one of the most dedicated athletes on this Irish team and has competed in three Olympic games. His best throw of the year so far is 77.10m. Nearing the end of his career now, McHugh's best hope is to beat his own Irish record of 82.14.

Nick Sweeney (Discus)

Age: 29. Club: DSD. A knee injury that refuses to clear up probably takes one of our medal possibilities out of the World Championship picture. Despite heavy strapping, Sweeney nabbed his eighth national title this year, but with a throw well below his capabilities. He is capable of a distance of 67.40 metres, but don't expect anything approaching that if he decides to take part at all.

Roman Linscheid (Hammer)

Age: 26. Club: Donore Harriers The Irish record holder at 72.88 metres provided the national championships with his best throw of the year so far at 71.54m. Played GAA with Skyrne in Meath, but spends his time now in the US. Some way to go, however, to make inroads on the top throwers who are over the 80m mark.

Peter Coghlan (110m hurdles)

Age: 22. Club: Crusaders. TJ Kearns' prosperous and lengthy career has cast a long shadow across Irish hurdling. While Kearns won another Irish title this year in Santry, Coughlan was hitting the barrier at the under-23 meeting in Finland. The Brown University student has a long way to go to emulate his forerunner, but at 23 he has time and goes into the World Championships with a PB of 13.87.

WomenSonia O'Sullivan (1,500/5,000 metres)

Age: 27. Club: Ballymore/Cobh A hellish year in which our only world track champion has had to watch her career virtually fall apart. Beginning in Atlanta with scenes of dejection and confusion, O'Sullivan has not yet managed to rise to the levels she has become used to. A 1997 best of 15:17.56 for the 5000, at which she is world champion, is more than 35 seconds slower than her PB. That equates to more than half a lap.

Sinead Delahunty (1,500 metres)

Age: 26. Club: Kilkenny CH The Kilkenny-born runner favoured the 800m in this year's National Championships, coming third. Her PB of 4:04.51 is unlikely to take her to within touching distance of the top runners in Greece, but a good time could get her to the final. Delahunty has been running around Europe this year, but has been unable to break 4:12.34. Something more is needed for a successful World Championships.

Valerie Vaughan (5,000 metres)

Age: 30. Club: Blarney Winner of both the 1,500 and 5,000 in the National Championships, Vaughan will be looking more towards personal ambitions rather than medals. The Colorado-based athlete's 15.44.72 time at Santry is well off her 15:37.07 best pace, which, in turn, is some distance off O'Sullivan at her best. Unfortunately that is the measure of the international competition this week.

Una English (5,000 metres)

Age: 26. Club: Dublin City Harriers This six-footer lives in Geneva and came second to Vaughan in Santry. A winner of a team bronze World Cross Country medal this year, with O'Sullivan and Catherina McKiernan. Her PB, however, is faster than that of Vaughan by almost 10 seconds. Again a PB would constitute a triumph.

Susan Smith (400m hurdles)

Age: 25. Club: Waterford. Blossomed last summer in Atlanta with a place in the Olympic semi-finals. Has received good feedback from the best in her discipline such as Olympic champion Kim Batten. Hampered early in the season with injury, but coming back to form. Will probably have to run sub-55 seconds to get anywhere this week. That would mean recording a PB, which is well within her grasp. A possible finalist.