Jason Smyth proves fitness for Europeans at French meet
Jason Smyth is the stand-out performer from the Northern Ireland Athletics Championship at the Antrim Forum
Jason Smyth proved his fitness for next week's European Championships as he clocked times of 10.41 and 10.43 at a low key meeting in France on Tuesday.
Smyth, who has a personal best of 10.32, had not raced for over a month because of a hamstring injury but came through the test in Castres unscathed.
"There were no problems although he was very rusty as we expected," said Smyth's coach Stephen Maguire.
"But he's been training well and will be OK for Barcelona."
Smyth's preparations for the race weren't helped by some travel delays on the way to the South of France from the Ireland team's pre-European Championship training camp in Murcia.
"He was pretty tired by the time he got here this afternoon at 2pm and it wasn't the ideal way to prepare for a race," added Maguire.
"But it's a case of job done with no problems after the two races."
Ireland will bring a 33-strong team to Barcelona after a number of late additions to the squad.
Ailis McSweeney will compete in the women's 100m after breaking Michelle Carroll-Walsh's 32-year-old Irish record by clocking 11.40 in Belgium last week.
McSweeney's time cut .03secs off the former mark.
UCD sprinter Steven Colvert will join Paul Hession in the 200m after clocking a personal best of 20.90 over the weekend while Rory Chesser is picked for the 1500m.
Chesser secured his Barcelona berth with a 3:40.08 performance in Sweden over the weekend, which was almost a second inside the qualifying standard.
Colin Griffin is also a late entry for the 50K walk.
Paul Hession, David Gillick, Derval O'Rourke and walker Olive Loughnane are all genuine medal prospects for the Irish at the Championships.
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