THE IRISH TIMES Saturday, March 10, 2001 Ian O'Riordan No one in Lisbon is disputing the fact that tomorrow's 3,000 metres for men is going to be the most competitive final of these championships, and, for the time being, Mark Carroll is just happy to be there. "This is championship running and I was determined not to repeat what happened at the Olympics," he said after finishing in seventh but as a comfortable qualifier from yesterday's second heat. "To mess up two championships in a row would have been unforgivable." In Sydney, Carroll was in an equally comfortable position but messed up on the last lap to miss a place in the final by one slot. Here, the European Indoor champion made no mistake. Pushing the pace from the start, he ensured that he stayed out of danger, and although he goes forward as one of the two fastest losers, clocking seven minutes 53.64 seconds, the intention was to reserve as much as possible for the final. "Well, did it ever look like a problem? We were running 7.50 pace, there were seven of us in the group, and we were about 15 seconds faster than the first heat. We knew what we had to do and I just set the ball rolling from the start." In the bunch finish, Australia's fast-improving 20-year-old Craig Mottram hit the line first in 7.50.21. But they all know the task they face in the final in attempting to upset Hicham El Guerrouj, who won the first heat in 8.05.50. Daniel Caulfield, despite making his major championship debut, ran with remarkable composure in the heats of the 800 metres and, after an agonising wait, ended up qualifying for today's semi-finals. Running in the first of five heats, Caulfield held on to second position behind the American Trinity Gray until a little after halfway, when Russia's Yuriy Borzakovskiy made his expected spurt for victory in 1.47.29. Only the top two were certain of going forward, but in finishing third in 1.47.83, the Irishman put himself in a healthy position to claim one of the two fastest loser positions. Four nervous heats later, his time still stood up. After years plagued by injury and just plain bad luck it was just reward for the Roscommon-born athlete. Peter Coghlan also appeared on course for a place in the final of the 60 metres hurdles, but crashed into the last barrier and ended up sixth in the semi-final in 7.67 seconds - still a season's best. The Dubliner had earlier in the day taken third in the first round, and certainly looked to have regained the sort of form that saw him significantly drop the national record outdoors two years ago. There was disappointment too for Karen Shinkins. Two national records already this season and a decent draw in the heats of the 400 metres looked to have set her up for a place in the semi-finals, but on this occasion the performance was a little flat. Running in the last of four heats, Shinkins started out in second but ended up fifth in 53.90. fading disappointingly behind the winner, Shanta Ghosh of Germany (52.49). "I know I'm still on a learning curve but I also seem to be learning the hard way," she said. "I came here expecting a lot more and I'm fairly gutted after this. I shouldn't have been in a position where I was out in lane two on the second lap. I just did too much hard work on the first lap." Eamonn Condon WWW.RunnersGoal.com
