Britton qualifies for Olympic 10,000m race
European cross-country champion Fionnuala Britton has secured her second Olympic 'A' standard for London 2012 by beating the 10,000m mark by 16 seconds.
The Wicklow athlete clocked a track personal best 31:29.22 overnight at the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational meeting at Stanford University, beating the Olympic A standard of 31 minutes, 45 seconds.
Britton finished third in the race behind Betsy Saina (31:15.97) and Amy Hastings (31:19.87), and has now doubled her Olympic workload, having already secured an A standard for the 3000m steeplechase.
It’s the first time Britton has qualified for a “flat” track event at a major Championships, having competed in the 3000 steeplechase at two World Championships in Osaka 2007 and Daegu 2011, the Europeans in Gothenburg 2006 and Barcelona 2010, plus the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Fionnuala Britton achieves the Olympic A standard with a stunning 3rd place finish in the 10,000m (31:29.22) #PaytonJordan
— Athletics Ireland (@irishathletics) April 30, 2012
Meanwhile, Paul Hession suffered his first 200m defeat by a fellow Irishman in seven years overnight.
Steven Colvert of Crusaders AC got the better of the Athenry sprinter at the Steve Scott Invitational in Irvine, California, clocking new personal best of 20.85 seconds.
Hession ran 21.05, describing his performance on Twitter as “rusty” – the European Championships 2010 finalist has already qualified for London.
Irish Olympic ‘A’ qualifying standard – Athletics:
Paul Hession - men's 200m
Ciarán O'Lionaird - men's 1500m
Alistair Cragg - men's 5000m
Mark Kenneally - men's marathon
Robert Heffernan - men's 20k and 50k walk
Brendan Boyce - men's 50k walk
Derval O'Rourke - women's 100m hurdles
Fionnuala Britton - women's 10000m and 3000m steeplechase
Stephanie Reilly - women's 3000m steeplechase
Deirdre Ryan - Women's high jump
Tori Pena - women's pole vault
Olive Loughnane - Women's 20k walk
Maria McCambridge – women’s marathon
Linda Byrne - women's marathon
Ava Hutchinson - women's marathon
Catriona Jennings - women's marathon
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