Irish stars to miss World Championships
Two of Ireland's top athletes, Alistair Cragg and Gillian O'Sullivan, will be missing from August's World Championships in Helsinki due to injury.
Cragg has been struggling with a stress fracture in his lower back since claiming gold in the 3000 metres final at March's European Indoor Championships in Madrid.
The same month saw the South African-born star miss the World Cross Country Championships and Cragg feels he is in no shape to compete in the Finnish capital, despite a recent return to training.
Cragg's Arkansas-based coach John McDonnell confirmed: "Alistair felt that if he wasn't capable of running low 13s (minutes) at the worlds then there was no point in going.
"He's going to write off his track season this summer and concentrate on the next cross country events instead."
Cragg, who turned 25 earlier this month, will be joined by 2003 World silver medallist walker Gillian O'Sullivan on the sidelines.
A hip injury hampered the Kerry woman at last year's Olympics and despite a heavy training programme, the former world number two is still struggling to find her Paris form of two years ago.
With the absence of both Cragg and O'Sullivan - who were named today on an eight-athlete world class panel as part of Athletics Ireland's Performance Plan for the 2008 Beijing Olympics - Irish hopes in Helsinki are likely to rest on Sonia O'Sullivan and Mark Carroll.
Meanwhile, there was a boost for the Irish women's team, who were soundly relegated from the European Cup's eight-team Division One earlier this month in Portugal.
They have been re-instated as next year's hosts Spain boast a nine-lane track.
