Peter Coghlan admits that he really take athletics as seriously as he should have while on scholarship in America at Yale. Like any normal lad, he encountered the distractions of college life, immaturity and pursuing a bit of good craic as opposed to the perfect hurdle technique workout. After university he got serious about running and training hooking with Coach Loren Seagrave and Paul Doyle of Speed Dynamics in Atlanta, Georgia. These coaches had helped Susan Smith Walsh and Coghlan decided to give it a go. He's been improving ever since and albeit for an untimely injury, which interrupted his training, he might have made the Olympic final at the Sydney Games.

The 26 year-old Crusader Olympian holds the Irish 110m hurdle record of 13.30sec (+0.6), set in Hechtel, Netherlands on 8th August 1999 and the indoor 60m-hurdle record (7.57). He narrowly missed making the final in the '99 World Championships in Seville placing 5th in his semifinal in 13.35. In Lisbon this year, he was 6th in his semifinal in 7.67. Grabbing a lane in the semifinal has got to be his goal with more than just a glimmer of hope of qualifying for his first final in a major championship. Coghlan races on Tuesday.

Leevale's Mark Carroll holds the Irish record in the 3,000m (7:30.36), 5,000m (13:03.93) and 10,000 (27:46.82) metre events. He has come frightfully close to the Irish records in the mile (3:49.77) and 1,500m (3:33.50) as well which are held by his agent, Ray Flynn having run 3:50.62 and 3:34.91 respectively. Carroll has electrified Irish audiences with his bronze medal in the '98 European Championships' 5k and when he mined gold at the European Indoor Championships in the 3,000 metres. On the World stage, his best finish was a seventh in Lisbon at this year's World Indoor meeting.

He had a disastrous experience in the Sydney Games when he failed to advance out of the 1st round qualifying heats. He has candidly addressed the experience including a brief chat with Irish Runner.com before this year's Millrose Games . Penned "Ireland's only real hope for a medal" by Ian O'Riordan, he told the Irish Times reporter, To make the final, and not make the same mistake I made in Sydney, that's obviously the first task." Carroll, 29, has been outspoken on the use of drugs by other distance runners and said in the Irish Examiner to Brendan Mooney that he felt athletics was already benefiting from the threat posed by blood testing [for EPO]. If Carroll can get into the final then he may prove to be Ireland's best chance for a medal. Carroll races on Monday morning.

He's one of only three Irishmen to crack the 46 second barrier with the others being Irish record holder Derek O'Connor (45.73, 05/06/86) and Edmonton 1,600m relay teammate Paul McKee (45.92, 01/05/00). Coman competes for Templemore AC and is the first Irish athlete to compete in Edmonton running the 1st round of the 400 metre event on Saturday at 9.45 am. He's set to run in Heat 1, lane 5 with the Top 3 in each heat moving onto the second round. He's ranked 7th of 7 in his heat and currently 126th in the world rankings. Regardless, this will be a great experience for the youngster who won his first senior title at age 18.

The 28-year-old Roscommon-born athlete came to the United States in 1986 and has been on the cusp of international competition making the great leap this indoor campaign where he qualified for the 800m semifinals at the World Indoor Championships in Lisbon. The Dublin City Harrier won this year's National 800 metre title in 1.48.28. Five silver medals in the same event flank his new gold medal. Caulfied ran his seasonal best of 1:46.80 at the IAAF GP II adidas Oregon Track Classic held in Portland, Oregon on the 3 June.

While many track experts feel Leevale's Mark Carroll is Ireland's best hope for a medal, Robert Heffernan enters the Championships as the highest ranked athlete in their event. Heffernan, only 21 holds all National senior records from 3,000m to 35,000m in the walking events. The Togher Olympian placed 28th in Sydney. The Corkman along with Olympic teammate Jamie Costin went to South Africa this winter to train with the double Sydney gold medallist, the incredible Pole, Robert Korzeniowski. This experience helped him beat World Record holder Julio Matinez of Guatemala in a thrilling race earlier this season.

On 22 July in Santry, Karen Shinkins won her fifth consecutive senior 400m Irish National Championship. The Kilkenny City Harrier holds 17 of the top 18 400m times on the Irish All-Time list including her Irish record of 51.07 set in Palma de Mallorca, Spain on 12th July 1999. Shinkins, from Newbridge, Co. Kildare also holds the senior mark (52.31) and the outdoor U-23 record (52.13) as well. Only 24, Shinkins has been Olympian and has competed in the 1999 World in Seville where she ran 52.08 for seventh in the quarterfinals. The 1st Round in the women's 400m begins at 9.50 am on Sunday, 5th August. She moved to the US last year to train under the tutelage of Loren Seagrave and Paul Doyle with Jim Kilty being her longtime coach in Ireland.

Breeda Dennehy Willis is the third fastest Irish woman at 5,000m (15:12.83, 05/08/00) and at 10,000 metres (32:11.30, 01/03/00) trailing only Sonia O'Sullivan and Catherina McKiernan. The versatile 31year-old has won the last two Irish 5,000m titles and is at home on the roads and the trails as she is on the track. Breeda who is from Carrigadrohid, Co. Cork and lives in Tallahassee, Florida with her husband Lee Willis. She attended Western Kentucky University in the US where she has earned Bachelor's and Master's degrees.

She's also placed in the Top 30 twice in World Cross and as she did here in Edmonton, qualified for the 5,000m and 10,000m events at the Sydney Olympics. The Bandon Olympian is ranked 32nd in the 5,000m and 31st in the 10,000m but with perennial powerhouses Kenya and Ethiopia limited to three participants, she's ranked considerably higher in these World Championships. The qualifying round in the women's 10,000m has been cancelled with the crowded final set for 9.05 pm on Tuesday, 7th August. The 5,000m qualifying heats are scheduled for Thursday with the final on Saturday.

Terry McHugh has competed in the javelin in the last three World Championships and in four consecutive Summer Olympics along with two appearances in the Winter Games on the Irish bobsled team. McHugh, who turns 38 on 22nd August, has the top 17 all-time Irish performances in the javelin including the Irish record of 82.75m set at London's Crystal Palace on 5th August 2000. The most astonishing feat from the Clonmel man is his record setting 18th successive National javelin title when he won the event on 21st July in Santry.

When the Athletics Association of Ireland selected the ageless Dublin City Harrier to be a member of the Edmonton team on 23 July, track and field enthusiasts were both surprised and thrilled by his inclusion. Technically, his record toss last August qualified him but the AAI rarely allows an athlete to use a performance from a previous season and doesn't make a habit of selecting athletes equipped only with a B Standard either. The AAI has many more critics than supporters but should be highly praised for this choice. The A standard is 82.50m with the B Standard set at 80.50m. McHugh is ranked 32nd in the world this season and making it to the final will be a difficult task but certainly not impossible for this stalwart from Tipperary. He is set to compete in the Qualifying Round on Friday, 10th August.