The 42

IRELAND HOPE to send a squad of eight, led by newly-crowned European champion Sarah Healy, to next week’s World Athletics Indoor Championships in China.

Four Irish athletes have achieved the qualification standard for Nanjing: 3000m star Healy, European bronze medal winner Kate O’Connor in the heptathlon, Sarah Lavin – who finished fifth in the 60m hurdles at World Indoors last year – and Andrew Coscoran, who has qualified in both the 1500m and 3000m.

Four more athletes have hit the ‘B’ standard for qualification and now face an anxious wait to see if they will be allocated a quota place by World Athletics.

European bronze medallist Mark English, his fellow 800m runner Cian McPhillips, Sophie O’Sullivan (1500m), and James Gormley (3000m) will all discover their fate on Wednesday.

The championships run from Friday 21 March to Sunday 23 March.

Written by Niall Kelly and originally published on The 42 whose award-winning team produces original content that you won’t find anywhere else.

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