US class shows in Santry sprints

On a night of grand prix athletics at the Golden League meeting in Monaco, Geraldine Hendricken confirmed her re-emergence as a world-class 1,500 metre runner. Dropping her personal best again, to four minutes 3.18 seconds when finishing eighth, she now trails only Sonia O'Sullivan on the Irish all-time list.

In a desperately tight finish to a race of electric tempo, Hendricken was always in the mix for a fast time, with just three seconds separating the top 10. Victory went to the established American Regina Jacobs in 4.01.01 - the fastest in the world this year.

With Alesya Turova of Belarus so close in second (4.01.02), and Britain's Helen Pattinson also improving her best in third (4.01.10), Hendricken was duly rewarded with her fourth personal best of the season (previously 4.05.72 from Lausanne). For the 32-year-old Carlow athlete, the European Championships in Munich in just over two weeks can not come around quick enough.

Back home in Santry, the action at the Dublin International revolved around some high-octane sprinting, led by, who else but, the US. Calvin Harrison very nearly ran the fastest 400 metres on Irish soil when clocking 45.31 seconds, and on a warmer night he surely would have. Yet the man who helped America to Olympic relay gold in Sydney was still a class apart. Dundrum's Robert Daly ran hard to take fifth in 46.82, a useful tune-up for Munich.

American Angela Williams, who took World Indoor silver last year, was the class act in the women's 100 metres, breezing home in 11.58. Ciara Sheehy ran steadily to take fourth in 11.90, though well outside her best.

England's Tony Jarrett was a little closer when getting the better of Peter Coghlan in the 110 metre hurdles, clocking 13.78 to Coghlan's 13.91.

At least the Irish did well in the distance races. Dundrum's Robert Connolly took the 3,000 metres in 8.10.35, while the Morton Mile just failed to produce a sub-four-minute performance when Edwin Maranga came home in 4.00.78. Mark Kenneally of Raheny was the best of the Irish in 4.09.17.

Eileen O'Keeffe at least got the meeting off to a good start for the Irish by improving her national record in the hammer, throwing 61.10 metres when taking third behind New Zealand's Tasha Williams (63.77). The old mark of 60.28 metres, set when winning the European Cup last month, was thus resigned to history and the young Callan athlete departs for Munich in the form of her life.

Elsewhere, at the World Junior Championships in Kingston, Jamaica, Joanne Cuddihy was best of the two Irish finalists in the 400 metres, with the Kilkenny athlete finishing sixth in a personal best of 53.36 seconds - just off the Irish record (53.24), and just .06 short of the qualifying time for the European Championships. Victory, as expected, went to America's Monique Henderson in 51.10 seconds.

In the men's final, David McCarthy took a respectable seventh in 47.10, though failing to improve on the Irish record of 46.77 he set in the semi-final. Victory there also went to an American, Darold Williamson.

In the 200 metres, Paul Hession (21.03) and Claire Bergin (24.36) set personal bests in the first rounds, though they failed to progress beyond the semi-finals.

Finally, the Adidas Irish Runner five-mile challenge, the first in the series of countdown races for the Dublin Marathon, takes place tomorrow in the Phoenix Park (11.0) with entries still being taken up to an hour before the start.