James Nolan ran his best race for a long time when he qualified for tomorrow's final of the 1,500 metres at the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Moscow.
Nolan, the 2000 European silver medallist, produced a marvellous sprint finish over the final 200 metres to finish first and clinch his place in the final for the first time in three years when he was sixth in Birmingham.
The 29-year-old self-coached Irishman struck at the ball before easing over the final few metres to jog across the line in three minutes 44.67 seconds alongside Yassine Bensghir of Morocco.
Nolan now has the opportunity to chase the $40,000 top prize, although he will face an massive task against some talented African opposition.
Alistair Cragg also faces a stiff challenge if he is to add to the gold he captured at last year's European Indoor Championships.
The 25-year-old US-based athlete qualified by right - and after a slip with around a kilometre of the race remaining - to make Sunday's final of the 3,000m in what is set to be one of the highlights of the meeting.
There he will face Ethiopia's Kenenisa Bekele, Eliud Kipchoge and his former Kenyan team-mate Saif Saaeed Shaheen, now representing Qatar.
Bekele, the reigning Olympic and world 10,000m champion, believes the gold medal will be decided between this trio, with his younger brother Tariku an outside possibility.
"Shaheen and Kipchoge will be my main challengers, but the other athletes like the Moroccans, should not be overlooked," disregarding the presence of the Irishman despite the fact he was beaten by Cragg last year.
European 400m indoor champion David Gillick failed to progress when he finished fifth in his heat in 47.61secs in his first race of the year.
David McCarthy, a finalist three years ago, did progress with his fastest run of the season and second place after the disqualification of winner LaShawn Merritt. His mark of 46.68secs saw him initially third behind Davian Clarke who clocked 46.27secs until the banishment of the US star.
Emily Maher and Ailis McSweeney did well to reach the 60m semi-finals before making their exits after placing fifth and seventh in times of 7.37secs and 7.42secs.
