RTE Sports – Hession third behind Bolt in London
– Cragg and Gillick continue build-up Irish Olympian Paul Hession came in a creditable third place in the 200m at the London Grand Prix on Saturday, as Usain Bolt set a new track record of 19.76 seconds to win.
Bolt produced an effortless display to lower the mark of 19.84sec, set by Tyson Gay of the USA on the Crystal Palace track two years ago.
The 25-year-old Jamaican eased around a half lap of the stadium for a runaway victory, ahead of American Wallace Spearmon and Hession.
Hession who finished in 20.37 seconds, laboured in the slipstream of the 6ft 5in Caribbean sprinter – who was hardly out of breath at the finish.
Bolt, who set a world 100m record of 9.72sec in May, said after the race he was still unable to confirm whether he will double up and chase both sprint gold medals in Beijing.
Bolt is allowing his coach Glen Mills to make the decision – which is expected after Saturday’s meeting.
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Cragg and Gillick continue build-up
Ireland’s Alistair Cragg and David Gillick both put in solid displays at Saturday’s Aviva London Grand Prix, claiming third place finishes as they continued their build-up to Beijing.
Cragg, who sat out last week’s National Championships due to a stomach upset, was in fine fettle as he clocked 7:38.60 seconds in a competitive 3000 metres at Crystal Palace, narrowly missing out on a season’s best.
Last Friday week, the former European Indoor champion ran 7:38.21 for fourth place at the Paris Grand Prix and this London run would suggest that he is on track for a crack at both the 1500m and 5000m at the Olympics.
Cragg’s coach John McDonnell has intimated that his charge will double up in Beijing as the 1500m heats (August 15), semi-finals (August 17) and final (August 19) are all out of the way before the 5000m event begins on August 20.
Cragg looked comfortably throughout today’s race, slotting in initially behind Kenyan pacemakers Bernard Kiptum and Shadrack Kosgei.
He maintained his presence in a lead ground of six before they were whittled away and he only had Uganda’s Boniface Kiprop and Mike Kigen of Kenya for company on the final lap.
Kiprop and Kigen bridged a gap on Cragg with 150m to go and the Irishman, who is pencilled in to race in Monaco on Tuesday, was content to ease home in third.
Kiprop took the win in a new Ugandan record of 7:36.95 with Kigen notching a season’s best (7:37.66).
Home favourite Mo Farah, after a couple of front-running laps, fell away and finished a disappointing sixth (7:43.26).
Another athlete who missed the Nationals at Santry was 400m star David Gillick, who had to rest a niggling right knee injury.
After some tests in Dublin, the two-time European Indoor champion was declared fit enough to race at Crystal Palace this afternoon and he had a very good lane draw in three, just inside his training partner Martyn Rooney of Britain and Canadian speedster Tyler Christopher.
Gillick, who set a new Irish record of 45.12 seconds last month, was hoping to get close to that time again and he got off to a solid start.
But gradually, Rooney was able to creep away and a powerful finish from the young Briton saw him claim a morale-boosting win and break 45 seconds for the first time.
Gillick fought well to claim third with a lung-bursting last 100, clocking 45.35 seconds with Christopher grabbing second spot (45.29).
Although the 25-year-old Irishman will have been annoyed to lose out to his Loughborough colleague Rooney, he still finished ahead of American David Neville and Andretti Bain of the Bahamas, the fourth and fifth fastest men in the world this year.
Neville was fourth (45.39) and Bain tailed off in seventh (45.86).
