European Athletic Championships - Irish Chances?

SitUbuSit

Hey everyone,

I thought it was about time somebody started a thread on the Europeans. We've been talking about them all over the place so here's a dedicated thread for it.

On a side note, it's great to see someone people here with a genuine interest in athletics - I'm only 24 but have been brought up in an athletics mad house and it definitely seems to have stuck - I don't seem to run as much as I used to but do want to get back to it - but I follow it as much as ever.

Ok, so European's start next week. What can Irish athletes do?

I think we've got one of the strongest teams in a long time but unfortunately without the guaranteed success of Sonia that we relied on for so long. So who will be the new stars?

I do think this will be a development championships for us but we can still bring home a few medals.

Cragg should medal. I really hope DOR can and I'd love to see Cuddihy sneaking a bronze but is that being too optimistic? Then we have Gillick and McGettigan who should make finals. Maybe the mens 4x400m can do something or Martin Fagan in the 10000M?

It's just great to have some Irish names to follow and we can have some expectations rather than the usual - it'd be great if they made the final which we need to rid ourselves of!

What do you all think?

Pherekydes

We have some good up and coming athletes. Reale, Chamney, Gillick and Cuddihy could have varying degrees of success. We'll have to wait and see if they can hold it together or even rise to the occasion.

O'Rourke and Cragg are strong medal shots.

I think we can pick up 2-5 medals.

Clum

European rankings for some of the Irish Athletes making headlines this summer

David Gillick ranked 12th in 400m
James Nolan ranked 11th in 1500m
Alistair Cragg ranked 1st in 5000m
Martin Fagan ranked 21st in 10,000m

Joanne Cuddihy ranked 30th in 200m, 17th in 400m
Mary Cullen ranked 22nd in 3000m, 18th in 10,000m
Marie Davenport ranked 6th in 5000m
Roisin McGettigan ranked 13th in 2000m Steeple, 7th in 3000m steeple
Derval O'rourke ranked 6th in 100m Hurdles
Deirdre Ryan ranked 27th in High Jump
Eileen O'Keefe ranked 27th in Hammer

Everybody is looking to Cragg and O'Rourke to medal for us but hopefully Fagan and Cullen will surprise us. They haven't run 10Ks since May/June working on shorter, faster races. Cullen is not entered in the 10000m but you'd never know.

There's a few other athletes improving over the summer with a number of personal bests too...

DaveH

Thats not always a good thing for a 10K runner to concentrate on Shorter distance's. It can effect their stamina.

Fagan did the 5K on Sunday, he was saying before hand that he's feeling pretty tried, so hopefully that clears up.

I fancy him as the "shock" performer in the Irish camp.

Clum

DaveH wrote:

I fancy him as the "shock" performer in the Irish camp.

He was almost the shock performer in the European Cross but for that fall in the ditch on the last lap...he's got great potential.

northtom

I think McKee is slipping under the radar at the moment, he could be the surprise package at the europeans. Gillick ran a great race and has good race sharpness as he has done a lot of racing this year. McKee has lacked races but seems to be judging his fitness perfectly. He had an outside lane and messed up the race but still ran sub 46. He has got better every race this season. I can see him or Gillick breaking the Irish record this summer. It's just a pity that all of lands 400m runners aren't fit, there's the potential for a great relay squad.

Common Sense

I'll stick my neck out and go for gold for Cragg; this being Ireland's only medal but top 8 finishes for Cuddihy, Gillick, O'Rourke and McGettigan. Anything better than that, in my view, will be a bonus. And.... I sincerely and genuinely hope I'm proved wrong (not about Cragg of course)!!

Dodge

Common Sense wrote:

I'll stick my neck out and go for gold for Cragg; this being Ireland's only medal but top 8 finishes for Cuddihy, Gillick, O'Rourke and McGettigan. Anything better than that, in my view, will be a bonus. And.... I sincerely and genuinely hope I'm proved wrong (not about Cragg of course)!!

This would be my thinkiong, and I'm not even positive about Cragg's gold chances (the French being the main dangers). Fingers crossed though

Common Sense

I'm beginning to get jittery about Cragg myself. He has been a bit sluggish of late. I must confess that Farah looked extremely sharp on Friday night and would appear to be the man in form at the moment.

Common Sense

So, how do you all think we're doing??

So far, 2 top eight finishes Reale and Cuddihy (well, she's in the final 8), with Deirdre Ryan in the High Jump final and will at least make top 12. Derval, Roisin McGettigan and Alistar Cragg still to come. If they all make the final - would this represent our best showing in the European Championships.

One other point - well done to the Irish Daily Mail and its sister paper Ireland on Sunday for the fantastic coverage they are giving our Irish athletes - other newspapers please note.

And one final point - the RTE coverage is pathetic. A lot of live action in Gothenburg from about 5 onwards and RTE begins its coverage at 6.30. And then its more of a talk fest, even though Eamonn Coghlan and Gerry Kiernan are highly knowledgeable and intelligent pundits. Tonight they missed the live versions of both Joanne Cuddihy's semi-final and the 1500m final featuring Liam Reale.

ecksor

I don't think I've even checked the RTE schedules in years now.

The AAI (might have been BLE at that point) having to get in a German broadcaster to cover the european cup leg that was hosted in Santry a few years back didn't reflect well upon our "national broadcaster" in terms of covering the sport. I'm pretty sure the world records that have been set in recent years at the national championships aren't recorded either. How many countries in the world would that happen in?

Common Sense

I hope I'm not belieing anyone here, Ecksor, but I seem to remember one particular WR set by Gillian O'Sullivan and RTE arriving breathlessly in Santry some hours later and getting her to walk down the finishing straight again so they could film her. O, Mother Ireland.....

ecksor

Right, and when she set another one in Belfast a few months later at the national indoors they still weren't there if I'm not mistaken?

thirtyfoot

Its been very promising so far, Cuddihy is a class act, a couple of injury free winters and she'll be flying in Beijing. Reale ran a very gutsy race last night too.

On RTE coverage, great they are there but what is the story with having Kiernan and Coughlan (especially) talking about sprints, they haven't a clue. I'm waiting for Kiernan to suggest Cuddihy should move up to 15's or that DOR should be focusing on the steeple. They know their stuff but if its under 800, no interest. They used have TJ Kearns on before why can't they have someone like that seeing as our teams going to majors are becoming more sprint orientated.

Does Paul Brizzel hold the world record for most DNF's (not saying his hamstring injury isn't geniune in this case)?

thirtyfoot

By the way, did anyone see that Russian who won the womens hammer, what an athlete, I though all the best hammer throwers where mothers of 3 in their late 30's, Lysenko is bordering on being attractive.

Squirrel

I was impressed with Martin Fagan's run in the 10K, he wasn't afraid to go with the leaders, he ran very bravely. Bring on the next few years.