The 11th Edition of the World Indoor Championships will take place this weekend in the Olimpiyskiy Sport Palace Complex, Moscow, Russia.
The Irish team departing to the Russian capital is brimming with confidence following some excellent indoor performances so far this year.
David Gillick was a late confirmation to the squad and will run his first 400m indoor race since his European Indoor Championship win in Madrid twelve months ago. The DSD athlete has run personal bests over 200m and following a training camp in Florida he will be looking for another world class performance. Joining him in the 400m is back in form David McCarthy who was a finalist in the last World Indoors in Budapest.
In the middle distance events, James Nolan has been in fantastic shape so far this year running a 2.21 1k (Lievin, France), a 3.39 1500m (Stuttgart, Germany) and a 7.52 3k (Ghent, Belgium). The Tullamore athlete has made three World Indoor finals in his career and has the potential to do so again.
Alistar Cragg has had a mixed indoor season in comparison to his performances of last year, which culminated with a win in the European Indoors over 3k. The Arkansas athlete will face stiff opposition from the Ethiopian Bekele brothers and Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya. Cragg has the fastest time in the world this year over 1 mile and this speed which served him so well in Madrid will be necessary if he is to have any chance of a medal against the East Africans.
On the women’s side, Derval O'Rourke is in a position to make the final and perhaps even a medal in the 60m hurdles. The Leevale athlete has been in sparkling form and just last weekend beat a host of world class athletes in Lievin while equaling her new national record of 7.90. Sprinters Emily Maher and World Students Games bronze medallist Ailis Mc Sweeney both compete in the 60m.
In the last World Indoors in 2003, Maria Mc Cambrige made the final of the women’s 3k. She goes into this year’s event on the back of an 8.57 performance in Stuttgart and a comprehensive victory in the All-Ireland XC two weeks ago and should repeat her performance of three years ago. She is joined by American based Roisin Mc Gettigan who has run 9.02 this year.
