Athletics Ireland announce Ailis McSweeney and James Nolan to represent Ireland Hession sets new Irish 100m record in Finland Athletics Ireland has today announced that they will send James Nolan and Ailis McSweeney to next weekend’s World Indoor Championships in Valencia. World Indoor 60m Hurdles champion Derval O’Rourke was expected to defend her crown but has opted against competing in Spain and to put all her focus on preparation for this summer’s Olympics in Beijing. Athletics Ireland had the option to include Ailis McSweeney in the team as each country can enter one male and one female athlete of their choice irrespective of whether they reached the qualifying standard for the Championships. The Cork athlete had been extremely unlucky not to qualify for the Championships as she came within a hundredth of a second of making the A standard at a recent meet in Germany. The 24-year-old, who will compete in the 60m, is one of Ireland’s most promising young athletes and won silver and bronze at the 2006 World University Games. McSweeney will be joined in Valencia by one of Ireland’s most experienced athletes, James Nolan. Offaly born Nolan will compete in the 1500m at the World Championships and has been in excellent form this season. The 31-year-old recently raced in Stockholm recording a time of 2.20.33, which was only one tenth of a second off equalling Marcus O’Sullivan’s 23 year Irish record. Nolan’s last appearance at the World Indoor Championships in 2006 yielded a 6th place finish, while he was also a semi-finalist at the last Olympic Games in Athens. Patsy McGonagle, Irish Team Manager; “It is great to be able to send James and Ailis to these Championships. With the majority of athletes concentrating on their outdoor performances ahead of Beijing we were always going to have a small team. However James is highly experienced indoors at European and World level and he has the confidence to do well in Valencia. Ailis has been so close to qualifying this season and this will now give her the opportunity to improve her indoor times for the season and gain experience in a world class field.” Paul Hession, who will not compete in Valencia, was in excellent form setting a new Irish record at last night’s indoor meet in Tampere, Finland. The Athenry clubman finished first in the 100m in a time of 10.36 as he steps up his preparations for the Olympics.