 Mark Carroll finished 7th today in the World Indoor 3000m Championship, in a time of 7:46.79. The race was won by hot-favourite Hicham El Guerrouj of Morroco in 7:37.74. The impressive field also included Mohammed Mourhit of Belgium who was second (7:38.94), followed by Alberto García of Spain (7:39.96), John Mayock of Great Britian (7:44.08), Million Wolde of Ethiopia (7:44.54), and Bernard Lagat of Kenya (7:45.52). Mark was next, followed by Craig Mottram of Australia (7:48.34), Mohamed Khaldi of Algeria and Paul Bitok of Kenya. Mark had done well in qualifying from his heat, in a comfortable 7:53.64. Given that the first heat was much slower, Mark was able to cruise home as one of the two fastest losers. (Final Results). In the Final, Mark had stayed in the middle of the pack for as long as possible, but spent the closing stages near the back. Among the others to drop off the pace was Olympic 5,000 metre champion Million Wolde of Ethiopia, who ended up fifth in 7.44.54. “My cardiovascular was okay out there, but I just felt a little one-paced,” said Carroll. “Trying to get the legs to turn over was one of the biggest problems, and there was also a lot of bunching and barging with guys passing on the inside. I’d prefer to be running a little freer. “But I felt a little more in the racing mode last season and the hamstring injury a couple of weeks back messed up my plans a little bit. I missed a week and had to take a week easy. The strength was still there alright, but I was stuck in one gear.” In the other races, Sonia O’Sullivan had a disappointing championships, finishing 7th in the 3,000m in 8:44.37, and last in the 1,500m in 4:19.40. Sonia did pick up the consolation of setting a new Irish indoor record in the 3,000m.. In the men’s 800m, Daniel Caulfield qualified for the semi-finals as a fastest loser, but failed to progress to the final. He ran 1:47 in both the heat and the semi-final. Peter Coghlan 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. There was disappointment too for Karen Shinkins, finishing fifth in her heat of the 400m in 53.90. |
