Sonia O'Sullivan and Mark Carroll are two of four Irish athletes to be pre-selected for the World Cross Country Championships in Dublin in two months time. However, both athletes face a race against time to prove their fitness as O'Sullivan only gave birth to her second daughter a month ago, while Carroll is only just back in training after a lengthy spell out through injury.
Both athletes have declared their intention to Athletics Ireland to compete at the Leopardstown event, which was postponed last year due to the outbreak of foot and mouth. O'Sullivan has yet to confirm which distance she plans to run, but Carroll is believed to be targeting the short course event. The news will come as a boost to the organisers as Carroll has already revealed he will not be defending his European Indoor 3000m title in Vienna in early March.
Seamus Power and 40-year-old Anne Keenan Buckley, fresh from her amazing victory in the Rás na hÉireann on January 13, are the other two Irish athletes to be pre-selected.
Filed by Shane Murray
