from www.examiner.ie By Brendan Mooney PAUL HESSION will make an eagerly-awaited seasonal debut next week in Malmo, Sweden, where the Athenry sprinter will try to repeat last year’s record-breaking opener. A year ago he broke the Irish record in his first race of the season in Greece, and once again the 100m will be his choice when he lines up in Malmo on Tuesday night.
Then, on Friday, he gets a plumb lane in the 200m at the first Golden League meeting of the year in Oslo.
After that he goes to Ostrava where he will line up alongside the world and Olympic 400m champion, Jeremy Wariner, in a 300m race in which he is hoping to break the Irish record and discover where his training has taken him.
“It has been very much strength training — 400m type training,” he said, from his base in Scotland. “It has been a long winter. I just had a couple of low key indoor races. I am looking forward to racing again and I must admit I am pretty excited.
“Training has gone very well for me and I feel my form is really good. I have a busy season ahead with the Olympics as the big target.”
He confirmed he looks set to compete at Cork City Sports on July 12 at the Mardyke.
Meanwhile, Derval O’Rourke is also due to get her season underway. She has been training at a warm weather camp in Tenerife and it is understood she plans a low key debut at a meeting in Germany.
And Mark Carroll who has been very close to qualification for another Olympics, takes his quest to Brussels this weekend when he competes in a high class 10,000m.
And there was more good news this week from the US where Martin Fagan is back in full training for the Olympic marathon. He had been injured since he achieved the qualifying standard last January.
“He has fully recovered and that he is back in full training,” the Irish team manager, Patsy McGonagle, said. “It has been a trying time for him but now all is well and he will continue to train with his coach in the US for the immediate future.”