Hi °C | Lo °C IRELAND have pre-selected eight athletes for the European Indoor Championships on March 1-13, but will not confirm who their third 3,000m man will be until Sunday.
Neither Donore's John Travers nor North Belfast's Stephen Scullion have been included. They are among four athletes who have achieved the standard for the 3,000m, but Ireland can enter only three for the competition.
Leevale's Ciaran O'Lionaird and West Waterford's David McCarthy, who have qualified for both the 1500m and 3,000m, are the two to have been included.
Travers (3:42.52/7:58.54) has also qualified for both distances, but Scullion, who has qualified for only one event, has a marginally faster 3,000m time after running 7:58.11 at a Grand Prix in Birmingham last weekend.
AAI said that it will wait until after Sunday's final qualification deadline before confirming the rest of the team "in the events where more than three athletes have achieved the set standard and to allow for further athletes to achieve qualifying standards."
O'Lionaird, former European indoor and outdoor medallist Derval O'Rourke (60m hurdles), Clonliffe's Brian Gregan (400m) and double European cross-country champion Fionnuala Britton are among Ireland's top medal hopes for Gothenburg, though next month's World Cross-Country Championships remain Britton's main focus.
Also pre-selected are UCD's Ciara Everard (800m), Lisburn's Amy Foster (60m) and Finn Valley pole vaulter Tori Pena.
Mark English also qualified at 800m but the world junior finalist is not going to Gothenburg as he is concentrating his efforts on the European U-23 Championships, which will be held in Finland in the summer.
