Kate O’Connor moved closer to almost certain Olympic qualification with a second place in the heptathlon at the Mehrkampf Meeting in Ratingen, Germany. The Commonwealth Games silver medallist went into the competition seeking the Paris qualification of 6480 points but fell short finishing second with a score of 6244 points. That was also less than her own national record of 6297 set three years ago.
However only nine women have achieved that 6480 standard meaning the Dundalk multi-eventer might yet be in Paris through the world rankings. Prior to the weekend she was ranked 27th in the event which will be confined to 24 competitors but will have moved up through the points gained in finishing second in the competition. Winner of the heptathlon was Germany’s Sandrina Sprengel with a 6260 total after the German went into the event ranked only 72nd in the Olympic listings.
Kate’s Individual Marks
100mH:13.94 (+0.5); HJ: 1.75m; SP:14.16; 200m:24.93 (-0.4);
LJ:5.98m (+2.0); JT:52.12; 800m:2:14.57.
The weekend started spectacularly on Friday night when Mark English lowered his national 800m record for the second time in a four days when he recorded a time of 1:44.53 to finish fourth at the Continental Tour meeting in Madrid. Winner of the race was Belgium’s Elliott Crestan in 1:44.28. Earlier in the week he had broken his own record by three-hundredths of a second with a 1:44.69 timing. That was also bettered the 1:44.70 Olympic standard.
Other Irish athletes were also in good form at the same meeting. Sharlene Mawdsley (50.82) was runner-up in the 400m, similarly Sarah Healy (2:01.30) was second in the 800m, Nick Griggs (3:35.64) was sixth in the 1500m, and Nicola Tuthill (69.33m) was seventh in the hammer, the event in which she was a finalist in the recent European Athletics Championships.
Also on Friday night, Sarah Lavin beat a strong field in the women’s 100m hurdles at the World Continental Tour Gold Meet in Poland. The Limerick woman won her heat in 12.80, and then returned to the track to win in the final in 12.74 ahead of Slovakia’s Viktoria Forster and Poland’s Marika Majewska. Lavin had already qualified for the Olympics as long ago as August last year.
In contrast, the chase for Olympic qualification goes on for Thomas Barr despite running a season’s best 48.79 in the men’s 400m hurdles at the same Bydgoszcz meeting. Barr was second behind Brazilian Matheus Lima but unfortunately short of the 48.70 mark that would have confirmed his selection for Paris. Barr was back in action again on Saturday in Vienna finishing second in his 400m hurdles race clocking 49.51 seconds. The Waterford man will have a last chance at next weekend’s national championships.
Kieran Kelly (Raheny Shamrock AC) and Ciara Wilson (DMP AC) overcame the warm conditions in the Phoenix Park on Sunday morning to claim the National 5-Mile Championship titles. The Derry-based Kelly crossed the finish line in 24:11 and led Raheny to the team title in the process. Wilson’s winning time was 27:25. Ulster runners dominated the men’s age categories through Stephen Duncan (Age Group:M50/Net Time:26:54), Pauric McKinney (M55/27:48), Tommy Hughes (M60/28:16), Norman Mawhinney (M65/31:11) and Martin Kerr (M70/34:57).
IRISH RUNNING NEWS 
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